The One-Shot Game
by Nelinde A
Summary: A different one-shot for a different fandom every day in November. My NaNoWriMo 2018 project. Do I even have 30 different fandoms? We're about to find out.
1. 1 Pirates of the Caribbean

**A/N: Welcome to The One-Shot Game! Which is a terrible title, because what the heck do you name a story that is literally 30 different fandom stories. But yeah, a different one-shot every day in November, as my NaNoWriMo project.**

 **Anyway, first on the fandom list is** _ **Pirates of the Caribbean,**_ **because I literally just binged all five movies in five days. I know I'm the only one on the planet who loves each and every one of those movies to pieces, but come on, everyone loves Will and Elizabeth, right?**

 **Here we go!**

 **Ch.1—How to Find the Dead**

Elizabeth never thought to see Jack again after she and Will had sailed away to have their one day before his ten years at sea. She'd never thought she'd see any of them, really. But then, Jack was always one to do the unexpected. He would always pop up where you least expected.

She was sitting on her hill that overlooked her beach, when she saw a small boat come into view. She stood up and shaded her eyes with her hand, squinting as hard as she could to try and tell who it was. But it was some time before the figure began to take the shape of Captain Jack Sparrow. For one moment Elizabeth wished she could just let him sail by; pretend she hadn't noticed him, and let him figure out whatever mess he was in at the moment by himself. She had gotten in so much trouble because of Jack. Will was cursed because of Jack!

But…Will was also alive because of Jack. And she was married to Will, because of Jack. It was difficult to remember sometimes, but she really owed much more to him than he owed her. And with that thought in mind, she lifted her skirts and rushed down to the beach as he was pulling his boat up on the shore. He looked up at her and gave a startled cry, almost falling backwards into the boat.

"Jack, it's just me!" she said.

"I know who you are," he said. "That's precisely why I screamed." He looked around in surprise. "Wait…"

"This isn't Port Royal, if that's what you were aiming for," she said. "You were close, but this is an island just east of it. It's more hidden, and virtually abandoned."

"Except for you, it would seem." Jack said. He looked down at her stomach, and raised an eyebrow. "Well would you look at that," he said, reaching out his hand to touch her ever-growing midriff.

She slapped him and turned away. "I'll be having none of that, thank you," she said. "And because I know you're going to ask, no it isn't yours. It's Will's."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, dearie," he said. "You're not going to name it William, are you? I think that name might be a bit cursed and overused by now."

Elizabeth blushed slightly. "I don't know," she admitted. "I feel like I don't want to name it without Will's input, but I can't exactly ask him."

Jack pulled a bottle out of his boat and put it to his lips. "Why not?"

"Because he's stuck at sea for another nine and a half years, that's why," Elizabeth huffed.

"Darling, we found Davy Jones easy enough, did we not?" Jack asked. "It's very simple to know where the Flying Dutchman is going to be. She'll sail where death sails."

"But I can't just go around looking for fresh shipwrecks."

"I didn't say shipwreck, did I now?" Jack asked. "I said death. Or near death, anyway. That's all it takes." He tipped the last of the rum into his mouth and handed her the bottle. "Trust me, Elizabeth, the captain of the Flying Dutchman always has impeccable timing." He shoved his boat back in the water and clambered in, turning back to tip his hat at her. "Give my regards to the whelp." Then he sailed away, leaving her with an empty bottle and an open mouth at what he was suggesting.

It only took her a moment to recover though, to angrily throw the bottle into the sea after him, and march back to her house. But the thought didn't leave her mind. Will hadn't been gone that long. A little more than half a year; that was how long it had been since she'd seen him. She hadn't allowed herself to miss him yet, because she knew there was so much more time for that. But she did miss him; she ached for him every day. There had never been a smooth moment in their relationship, and she'd been so hoping that when the whole mess with Davy Jones and the East India Trading Company had been sorted out, then she and Will could just go back to normal, domestic lives in society. She'd loved being a pirate, but she was ready to become the governor's daughter again, and right all the wrongs that had been done to her family by Lord Cutler Beckett. And she had done quite a bit of that. Will would have been proud of her for how much she overturned Port Royal, and made it the peaceful town that they'd loved and grown up in. But this little island was where she spent most of her time, as it was quiet and she could just stare at the sea without any tongues wagging. For of course no one knew she came here. She was known to go on many business trips, but this was really where she was going. She forbade passage to this island, but the reason she gave was that it was infested with many poisonous creatures, which she knew was a blatant lie. So she'd gotten along very well on her own.

But she still desperately missed the man she loved. And the thought of going to speak to him, just once more, was so very tempting to her. It had never even occurred to her that she could just go meet him, if he couldn't come to meet her. But the Flying Dutchman sailed underwater most of the time, and if it happened to be above water because it was at a shipwreck, than it would likely be very dangerous to bring another ship anywhere near that, or else it would turn into a wreck as well.

But this other option; she would never have thought of this other option on her own. And she'd been quite ready to dismiss it even when Jack suggested it. Because there wasn't just her life to consider. There was her son's as well. What if Will was just a second too late?

But she was going to risk it. She _had_ to risk it. She needed to see him, just once. He didn't even know she was pregnant. He would go all those years never knowing he had a child, if she didn't tell him now. She knew she wouldn't be able to go through with this once her son was actually born. So it had to be now.

She took a small boat as far out into the middle of the sea as she thought her strength would allow. She made very certain that there were no lands or ships in sight, and she also kept a very close eye on the weather. This was terrifying, what she was doing. She'd had to do quite a number of horrifying things in the past few years, but this was by far the scariest. She carefully tied a rope around a rock she had brought; the heaviest rock she could find. Then, with hands that she willed not to shake, she tied the other end around her ankle.

Will had better come for her. If he didn't, if he was watching this and thought she was bluffing, then she was going to have some choice words for him when he came to retrieve her soul. And what would happen to her child, would Will take his soul, too? Or would that soul just cease to exist?

She didn't want to think about that at all, and so hastily threw the rock in the water and jumped in after it.

The minute she hit the water was the most terrifying minute of her life. The last time she remembered feeling this scared was when she saw Davy Jones plunge a sword into Will's chest. She felt like she was going to die in that instant, too, and she was feeling it again. She was sinking…she was losing oxygen…he wasn't going to come for her…

And that's when she felt something hard touch her feet, and she felt herself being raised upwards. She took a gasp of air as soon as she was able to, and was suddenly aware of someone crying, "Elizabeth! Elizabeth, wake up!"

She opened her eyes and saw Will bending over her. He looked both angry and worried, but she couldn't do or say anything other than sit up and throw her arms around him. He hugged her tight, but then pulled her back and glared at her. "What were you doing?" He asked. "You could have died, do you realize that?"

"I knew you wouldn't let that happen," she said softly.

He frown melted, and he sighed, reaching out to gently caress her face. "Oh Elizabeth…"

She slowly lifted his hand off her face and lowered it to rest on her bulge. His face lit up, and he looked down at it, then up at her. "Elizabeth, is that…? Are we…?"

She nodded and smiled, and he suddenly leaned in to kiss her. She was entirely happy for all of five seconds, before he jerked back and looked angrily at her again. "So you endangered the life of our child as well?"

"I know," she said. "But I had to do it, I…I couldn't bear the thought of you not knowing…"

"But in this way?" He asked. "Where did you even get the idea to do this?"

She paused, then admitted, "Jack may have suggested that you'd be where death was."

"Jack." Will spat out the name, then looked at Elizabeth warningly. "Elizabeth, I know he's the reason we're both here, and together, but you must keep our child out of his path at all costs."

"I know," Elizabeth said feelingly, and then she smiled. "It's a boy, by the way. I want to name him William."

"Of course you do," Will said, rolling his eyes and smiling. "Well, at least be kind and give him a decent middle name like Henry or something, so he can go by that."

She nodded, and kissed him again, before she took the rope off her leg and returned to her boat. "Tell him this story, Elizabeth!" Will called as he disappeared again. "Warn him against doing what you did!"

And then he was gone, leaving her again alone, but feeling completely satisfied all the same.


	2. 2 MCU

**A/N: How is this my first Infinity War fanfic? Oh, that's right, because I only wanted to write about Loki or Peter Parker, and both were dead. I doubt Loki will be coming back, though I know Peter will be, so here's this story to help with our collective sadness.**

 **Ch. 2—Loki's Savior**

Loki watched in absolute terror as Thanos held his hand, and his knife, in the power of the Space Stone. But he'd known that would happen. He knew Thanos wouldn't be able to be killed that easily. He'd done in it in the slight hope that maybe he'd succeed, but he was already planning the same escape route that he performed in front of Thor and Jane several years ago. He knew how to make it look like he was killed. Thanos only had his arm in thrall, after all.

The only difficult bit was what would happen after. Before, all Loki had to do was wait for Thor and Jane to leave. Actually, he'd expected it to be even easier than that. He'd expected Thor to take his body back to Asgard, and didn't really know how to feel when Thor had just left the body of his dead brother there on the ground of an alien planet. But then when they left, he could just pick himself back up and make his way back to Asgard.

Here he knew it would be a little more difficult, because if he knew Thanos, and he certainly did, more than he wanted to, Thanos wouldn't just let the dead lie in the event that some of them were still alive. No, once he left, he'd destroy everything in sight, and then Loki would just be floating in space. But he was sure he'd think of something. He was a survivor, and so was Thor. It would take more than a Titan with a couple of stones to kill them both, especially on the same day.

Still, as Thanos lifted Loki up by the neck and began squeezing, Loki began to doubt his brilliant plan. He wasn't invincible, after all. There was only so much protection he could give himself. And if he passed out, he wouldn't be in control of what happened to him any longer. And that was exactly what he could feel happening, as Thanos' grip tightened around his neck. Loki began gasping and choking, because he could still definitely feel it, even if he knew he was safe. But he was slipping, he was falling, and he didn't know how to stop. "You…" he managed to gasp out, in the seemingly likely event that he would die after all, "Will never be…a god!"

Thanos smiled, but he was clearly angered, because he suddenly squeezed as tight as he could, and just like that, Loki lost in his fight to maintain consciousness, and everything went black.

His subconscious was still very busy and active however, and instead of dreams, Loki was instead plagued by sounds, loud sounds, but indiscernible sounds. He couldn't even distinguish voices from the rest of the clamor. But he was able to sense that Thanos had indeed left destruction in his wake, and Loki was going to perish by floating in space. And yet even then the noises didn't stop; they grew increasing louder and louder, until finally, when he thought he could bear it no more, they began to dwindle, and to become more recognizable, until he realized he was listening to the noises of a city. On Midgard.

He opened his eyes warily, and saw blue sky overhead. He turned his head and saw that he was lying on some steps, leading to a very ancient building. Right out in the open, with people rushing past and all kinds of cars honking. He sat up and desperately tried to recall anything that might have happened to get him here. Someone had to have brought him here; there was no way he just fell here from space. So why did they just leave him literally lying on the street?

He stood up, surveying the city as he tried to figure out which one it was. Not that he had a lot of experience with Midgard, other than New York. This actually looked pretty similar to New York, except that people were driving on the other side of the road here, and there was a giant wheel in the center of the city that he would have remembered seeing before.

He turned and looked back at the building on whose steps he'd woken up, wondering whether to go in. But he only took one step before he collapsed right back down. Thanos had tortured him a bit after blowing his ship up, but he hadn't noticed before how intense the pain actually was. As Loki tried to stagger back to his feet, he saw a young woman walking by on the sidewalk, slower than the others, which made them bump into her and shout angrily.

But she ignored them, and instead studied her phone intensely.

"Jane?" Loki ventured.

She looked up in surprise at hearing her name, and then her face turned to rage and shock as she saw who it was. She slowly pointed at him. "No," she said. "No, you died. I saw you."

"Nope," Loki winced, as he pressed one hand to his stomach and used to other to touch the wall as he walked down. But it hurt to do that, and he realized Thanos must have broken his arm in his last few minutes there. That was a new sensation.

"But you were stabbed, so how the heck did you survive that?"

"Faked my death," Loki said, gritting his teeth. "Made it look like I was stabbed. Did it again just now, actually. This time it didn't go as well as it might have."

"No kidding, you look pretty messed up."

Loki didn't say anything, but leaned against the pillar at the end of the stairs and began breathing heavily. Jane looked him up and down, and then crossed her arms and watched him in anticipation.

"Well?" Loki finally asked.

"I'm waiting for you to ask me," she said.

"Ask you what?"

"Ask me to help you."

"What?"

"I know you're waiting for me to offer," she said. "Because I'm a decent human being, and because you saved my life. And I will, but…I know it's going to kill you to ask, so I'm waiting for you to do that."

He smirked. "And what help do you think you could offer me, a prince of Asgard, who…" He tried to take a step forward, but winced and again sank slowly to the ground.

She smirked back. "Well I can help you walk, for one thing," she said. "You're super lucky I'm still in London. I'm moving back to the U.S. in a couple days, but I still have a couch at least that you can crash on today. But first you have to ask me."

Loki took a labored breath, and took a minute to weigh his options. But not being able to come up with an alternative, he pursed his lips and glared up at her. "Will you help me, Jane Foster?"

"Absolutely," she said, reaching down and pulling his good arm around her neck.

All of this was completely new to Loki. Even when Thanos had tortured him before, when he'd sent him to earth the first time, it had been all in Loki's mind. And even though Loki had been pretty banged up by the Hulk during that adventure, this feeling of a body that was completely broken and exhausted was one he'd never experienced. When they arrived at Jane's apartment, she led him past an army of moving boxes, and dropped him on her couch, where he immediately went limp.

"I'd have taken you to a hospital," she said. "But I honestly don't trust you with anyone when Thor isn't around, so you'll have to trust in my basic sense of science to fix whatever immediate problems you have."

Loki didn't answer, because he immediately fell asleep again almost before she'd finished her sentence. This time it was much calmer, as there were no noises or voices to plague him this time, and when he woke up he was surprised to see that it was the following day. He hastily jumped up, and went into the kitchen in search of Jane.

She was on her laptop, chewing her sleeve, with an empty cereal bowl beside her. "Good morning," she said, after briefly raising her eyes at him. "Actually, I'm not sure if it's still morning. How are you feeling?"

Humans. It was so odd the way they could make you feel completely out of your comfort zone, and yet they were so fascinating at the same time. "What did you do to me?" he asked suspiciously. "It's like there was never anything wrong with me."

She grinned. "Well, you are a god or an alien or something, so that probably helped," she said. "Do you want anything to eat? I mean I don't know what you guys eat, but Thor was usually pretty happy with whatever was lying around." She began twirling a piece of hair between her fingers. "Where is he, by the way?"

Loki's face took on a look of worry that he instantly banished. "I don't know," he admitted. "We were in a ship, flying to Midgard, when we were attacked. I don't even know how I got here; I just sort of woke up here. I don't know about him, but I would have very likely…died if I hadn't seen you, so…thank you. I suppose."

She laughed. "Wow, I wasn't even gonna ask you for _that_ much," she said. "You must have been hit on the head pretty hard. But I guess this makes us even now. I don't think I ever thanked your for saving my life before, either. So thanks." After a pause she added with another grin, "I suppose."

Loki didn't know why he felt compelled to smile at her right then, but he didn't fight the feeling. She smiled back, but both smiles faded when a crash was heard from outside. Jane rushed to her door and threw it open. She stared at the four cars that had collided in front of her apartment, and then ran outside.

"Jane!" Loki cried, but she didn't listen; she looked further down the road and saw more car crashes. She began running down the street, and Loki took off after her. But she stopped when she saw someone in front of her turn to ash and flake away.

She screamed in horror, and turned to Loki. "What's happening?" she demanded. Loki just stared at the pile of ash in even more horror than her. Then he glanced at Jane's hand, and suddenly grabbed her face with both hands.

"Listen to me," he said. "Just look at me, you're going to be fine."

"Don't lie to me, Loki," she said angrily, with tears in her eyes. "Am I dying?"

"I don't…know," he said honestly.

She glanced down at herself, and watched herself flake away. The last thing she did was look up at him and hiss, "You better have not had anything to do with this," before disappearing completely.

Loki hastily looked at his hands, but to his great relief, he was fine. He looked up and noticed that he was standing in front of the building he'd woken up in front of. But now there was a girl standing on the steps, with folded arms, surveying the scene.

He marched up to her. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"I'm not doing this, if that's what you're implying," she said.

"Who are you then?"

She turned to look at him. "I'm the guardian of the London Sanctum," she said. "And do not raise your voice at me, because I'm the one who brought you here."

Loki stepped back in surprise, but before he had time to reply, she looked back at the street and asked, "Do you know what is happening here?"

Loki swallowed and looked around. "Thanos found all the Infinity Stones."

"Yes," she said. "Now I'll be the first to admit that I ignore most of what happens in the world outside of London. But I was watching your ship, and I saw your interactions with Thanos. I knew you deserved more time to explore this hero path that you've found, and now it seems that, as likely a good number of the Avengers are ash now, you're going to have to explore that path more quickly than I imagined."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She turned to him again. "It means," she said. "That you'll have to be an Avenger now, Loki."


	3. 3 Spirited Away

**A/N: So disclaimer, I don't do anime. I mean, I used to not. But then I saw My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, and Spirited Away, and I fell in love with Studio Ghibli, at least. You'll be seeing fanfics on those later. But since this was my first introduction to anime, I had no idea how to write about it.**

 **I actually had to do** _ **research**_ **! I had to learn that Chihiro's dad was named** **Akiichirō and her mom was named Ichiyūko! And also I learned that supposedly Chihiro forgot all about that other world when she left it, which I absolutely hate. I hate in stories when people can't remember the magical worlds they went to. So in this story I kinda leave it up for interpretation whether she remembers or not.**

 **Here we go!**

 **Ch.3—In the Wake of a Dream**

If Akiichirō and Ichiyūko were expecting Chihiro to put up more of a fuss about having to move away from her friends, they were very mistaken. In the days that followed arriving at and settling into their new house, their daughter seemed very willing to help, and eager about starting a new school and meeting new people. They tried to cast their minds back to when the change had occurred, or what could possibly have happened to spark that change, but they always came up empty. They'd known it would be hard for her to leave. It was even hard for them to leave, but they'd put on smiles and uncaring attitudes every time she complained, because they knew if she saw that they were suffering just as much as she was, there was no way she'd learn to adjust. In fact, she'd probably be able to convince them to go back.

That's what they'd been bracing for, anyway. They'd been prepared for all kinds of tears and protests and whining and dragging of feet, and they were ready to harden their hearts and ignore her, knowing things would get easier for them all as the time when on. And it had started the day they drove away, with her pouting and complaining in the back of the car all the way there. And then they'd gotten a bit lost in looking for the house, but after doing a bit of exploring in a tunnel, they'd found it all right.

So when did Chihiro have the chance to suddenly become so hopeful and helpful?

They didn't know, but that wasn't the only change they detected about her. She seemed more mature somehow; there was a look in her face that you definitely shouldn't be able to see in a 10-year-old. She became very protective of any younger children or animals that were being picked on by others. And she spent a good deal of her free time on the front step, swinging her legs and looking up at the sky, as if she was waiting for something. Her parents often wanted to ask her what had happened to her, but since nothing seemed wrong with her, they could never really find the words for what they wanted to ask. It would be a bit of a strange inquiry, anyway. Maybe she was just growing up. Maybe the hardship of having to leave her roots had made her look at life differently. That seemed a bit silly and unlikely, but they were desperate for a reason, and that was the one they discussed with each other, and were able to convince each other of, at least enough to grasp it as the truth and put all other thoughts of it out of their heads. At least she'd changed for the better, anyway. This was a good thing, and they really shouldn't question such a gift. They ought to just be grateful for it.

And so the days went by; days which turned into weeks, and then months. It had been just the very beginning of summer when they'd moved; it was so early that Spring had not quite gotten out of the way yet. But now it was turning cool, and Autumn was beginning to push Summer away as Summer had pushed Spring. Chihiro remained the same; always smiling, always ready to help in whatever way she could, and sometimes even before she was asked to. In the weeks before school had started she'd started finding injured animals in the woods and bringing them in to take care of them. At first her parents were worried, because they knew that injured wild animals would often die if taken out of their natural habitat, and so they were very surprised when Chihiro actually was able to cure them. All of them. There was never an animal so wild or so far gone that it would die once she got her hands on it. That was almost the scariest thing of all, but since, again, nothing seemed very wrong with that, and she was only doing basic things like feeding it, keeping it warm, and cleaning its wounds, they let her be. She wasn't doing anything magical, so it wasn't like she had a spirit helping her or anything like that, as her parents at first suspected. Maybe she just had a way with animals, and they liked her enough to want to keep living, for her sake.

She didn't have as much time to seek out injured animals once school had started, but she didn't seem to mind that. Anyway, they often came to her, lying on her doorstep as if they'd heard that she would be able to make them feel better. There were only occasional times when she wandered outside for long periods of time, and though Akiichirō and Ichiyūko weren't sure about her being out in the cold so long, they figured it would be fine as long as she bundled up well enough.

But one day she was out for longer than usual. She'd asked Ichiyūko's permission before going out, as it looked like it might snow. Ichiyūko said it would likely hold off until she came back, and so let her go. But Chihiro was out for longer than usual, and it did begin to snow. It began to snow hard. It looked like it might even turn into a bit of a blizzard, which was very unusual in that part of Japan. Ichiyūko was finally about to send her husband out to look for Chihiro, when their daughter could be seen, trudging through the snow, holding her coat in her arms.

Ichiyūko threw the door open and shouted "Chihiro! Why aren't you wearing…?" But she stopped when she saw the rabbit bundled up in the coat.

"I had to," Chihiro apologized. "He was even colder than I was. There's nothing else wrong with him, I don't think, he just got caught in the snow and almost froze to death. I'm sure he'll be fine in the morning." She stifled a cough and walked into the house, carrying her burden.

She fell asleep shortly after tending to her pet, and Akiichirō had to carry her to her bed. "She's very warm," he reportedly worriedly to his wife. "Do you think she'll get sick from being out in the snow like that?"

Ichiyūko didn't answer, because she didn't want to admit her suspicions even to herself. The rabbit was all right in the morning, as Chihiro had predicted, and since the snow had stopped, Ichiyūko and Akiichirō set it free.

But the same could not be said for their daughter. After waiting a while for her to wake up, they went in to check on her, and found her burning with a fever. Ichiyūko wanted to be upset with her, but she was mostly just upset at herself for allowing her little girl to go out in unpredictable weather. She wasn't too concerned about the fever, because it certainly wasn't the first time Chihiro had had one, and she knew how to treat it, but she hated the idea of her suffering.

Chihiro lay quietly all that day; allowing her mother to treat her and even waking up occasionally to eat the food that was brought her. But that night, just as it began to lightly snow again, she began to get worse. She grew even hotter, and her mother wasn't able to wake her up. Akiichirō began to get worried and wondered if she should try to get a doctor to come see her, but Ichiyūko waved him off. "I don't want to scare her," she said. "It's still just a fever. All we have to do is break it."

But as the night progressed, even Ichiyūko began to get scared. Because Chihiro began tossing and turning, and shouting things that neither parent could make sense of. She also constantly worried the purple hair tie around her wrist, which she always kept there when it wasn't in her hair. Her parents didn't know the significance of this either, and wondered if they should ask her, or if it was something they should just know already. Either way, Chihiro seemed to be seeking comfort from it now, while she cried out, "Lin, help me, there's too much water; too much water!" And then a little while later she cried out, "You don't scare me, No-Face, I know you won't hurt me!" Every hour or so she came out with statements with a similar level of confusion, and her delirium began to very much terrify her parents.

"That's it," Akiichirō said at last. "I'm going for a doctor. I may not know much, but I know this is the point where she either gets better, or gets very, very worse. I'm not going to let my daughter get hospitalized because we're too ignorant to recognize that she needs help."

"No!" Ichiyūko cried. "It's snowing harder now, and I'm not going to let you get sick, too!"

There was a silence, which was only broken by Chihiro crying, "Haku! Haku I know it's you! I know you can hear me! You promised, Kohaku, you promised!"

Both her parents turned to stare at her. There was another silence, and then Akiichirō turned back to his wife. "Who is she talking about?" he asked.

"Who are any of the people she's talking about?" Ichiyūko asked. "She's just talking in her sleep; she'll be fine, I promise, we just need to wait it out."

Ichiyūko was trying to be brave, but secretly she knew that allowing a doctor to come would just confirm that her daughter was really and truly ill, perhaps dangerously so. She was still confident that once the fever broke everything would be all right, but after calling for "Kohaku" that first time, Chihiro wouldn't call for anybody else. She began constantly calling that name, and asking for whoever that was. Ichiyūko tried to ask her where they could find him, to try to find out who he was, but Chihiro didn't answer.

Finally, an hour or so before dawn, Ichiyūko gave in. "All right," she sighed to her husband. "Go for the doctor."

Akiichirō jumped up and flew to the door, already having put his coat on. But when he opened the door, he was startled to find a boy standing there. The boy looked sternly up at Akiichirō and asked, "May I come in?"

Akiichirō opened his mouth in surprise, wanting to ask questions, but since the boy was already walking through the door he didn't really have time to ask any. The boy headed straight for Chihiro's room, seeming to already know where he was going. He nodded curtly to Ichiyūko, but didn't speak to her. She began sputtering incoherently, turning to her husband for explanations, but Akiichirō only gripped her hand and stared at the boy.

The boy stood over Chihiro's bed, staring expressionlessly at her as she thrashed about. He watched her for a moment, and then reached out a hand and carefully placed it on her head.

She instantly stopped moving, but then started to whimper and moan. His hand slid down her face until he was holding her chin, and then he crouched down and whispered something to her. He carefully opened her mouth, and placed what looked like a small pebble in it. He gently pushed her chin back up and continued whispering to her until she swallowed it. Then he kissed the top of her head and stood back up, walking away as determinedly as he'd entered. Ichiyūko and Akiichirō looked at her, now lying quietly and still, and then looked back at him.

"Wait!" Akiichirō cried. "Who are you? What did you give her?"

He didn't answer, but simply opened the door and had one foot out the door when Ichiyūko asked, "Kohaku?"

He froze at the sound of that name, and hesitated before looking back. "Tell her I haven't forgotten my promise," he said. "Tell her I will return for her."

And then he left, closing the door quickly behind him, but when Ichiyūko and Akiichirō ran to look out the window, the boy was nowhere to be seen.


	4. 4 Milo Murphy's Law

**A/N: I love "Milo Murphy's Law" fiercely, just as I loved "Phineas and Ferb," but this is actually the first time I've written a fanfiction for it. And…I wanted it to be better than this. But not only was I EXTREMELY distracted and out of it today, but I really really have trouble with just writing light and fun pieces. I'm much better at dark and dramatic.**

 **But, I hope you enjoy this, for what it's worth.**

"But I still don't understand where I got the peach from," Cavendish protested, as he and Dakota walked down the street.

"Someone threw it at you earlier."

"But that someone was me!"

Both were probably quite willing to let their age-old time anomaly argument run around in circles as it usually did, but they were interrupted by a dog running up to them and barking.

"Hey, Diogee!" Dakota said, dropping to his knees to scratch the dog's belly. Diogee was quite willing to have this done to him, and rolled onto his back obligingly.

Dakota looked around. "I betcha three bucks that lamppost falls over."

"Three dollars? Why not five, why three specifically?"

"Cause I only have three," Dakota said, just before said lamppost toppled over. "Huh. Guess it didn't matter, since I was right."

"Diogee!" came the voice both men had expected to hear. And around the corner came Milo Murphy, his hands cupped around his mouth as he called for his pet. He spotted him and rushed over. "Diogee, come here! How is it every time I _do_ want you to follow me, you run off?"

"Hello, Murphy!" Cavendish called cheerfully.

"Oh, hey, Cavendish! Dakota," Milo greeted, with just as cheerful of a smile.

"Hey, kid," Dakota smiled. It was weird how attached he and his partner had become attached to Milo. Cavendish and Dakota had very different interests and personalities, in most areas anyway, but both agreed that children were on the whole a threat and a mess. They were polite to all children, and helped any that they could, but they steered clear of every befriending one.

And yet both had taken to Milo very quickly. Something about his enthusiasm and innocence in the face of peril just made them both have a very high amount of respect for him, and they were always pleased to bump into him on the streets.

"Sorry about Digoee," Milo said. "I guess he got just got excited when he saw you guys."

"Hey, no worries, I think he's great," Dakota replied.

"I'm going on vacation this weekend," Milo said. "I was just looking for somebody who might want to take care of Diogee for a few days. Hey, you guys wouldn't be interested, would you?"

"Oh, Milo, you know how we feel about your dog, but don't you think one of your other friends would be more suited to that task?" Cavendish asked.

Milo shrugged. "Well, Melissa and Zach are going with me, and Chad's on his own vacation, and Amanda gets nervous around animals, and I think Bradley's allergic to dogs," he said.

Cavendish nodded slowly. "You've already asked around, then."

"Yeah, but that's okay, lots of people like dogs," Milo said. "I'm sure I can find someone. Maybe I'll try on the other side of Danville. They allow platypuses as pets over there, so I'm pretty sure it won't be hard to find someone willing to take in a strange dog."

"Platypi," Cavendish corrected.

"I always heard it as platypeople," Dakota put in. "Whatever. Why can't we take care of him, Cavendish? We don't have any missions going on at the moment."

"Yes, I know, but we don't know the first thing about taking care of a dog!" Cavendish replied.

"Oh, he mostly takes care of himself," Milo assured them. "As long as you remember to leave some food out for him and not let him get locked in any houses, he should be fine. Actually, even if you forgot those two things he'd probably still be fine."

Cavendish looked at Dakota, who was staring up at him with pleading eyes. "Come on, I've always wanted a dog!"

"Oh, very well," Cavendish huffed. "Yes, Milo, we'll look after your pet while you're away."

"Really? That's great!" Milo said. "I've got his leash and some dog food right here!" He handed over the leash, but as he lifted the bag of dog food out of his backpack, the bottom split open and spilled out on the sidewalk. Diogee immediately began gobbling most of it up.

"Oh," Milo said. "Well, that's okay, he eats anything, really. Anyway, I've got to go start packing. Thanks so much, you guys!" Then he skipped away, disregarding the bike that crashed into a car behind him.

Cavendish and Dakota looked down at the dog who was still gorging himself on the spilled dog food. "What have we gotten ourselves into," Cavendish murmured.

The first night wasn't that difficult. Dakota spent a lot of time playing with him, so both were pretty worn out when they got back to their tiny apartment, and they fell asleep watching Doctor Zone.

But the next day was harder. Because that was when Diogee starting missing his master, and decided to go looking for him.

"CAVENDISH!" Dakota cried, jerking his partner awake.

"What, what the dickens is wrong?" Cavendish cried.

"He's gone, Diogee's gone!" Dakota yelped, pointing at the open door.

"Oh no," Cavendish said, his eyes wide. "That dog wanders everywhere, there's no telling where he might end up!"

"I know we've gotta hurry!" Dakota answered.

But the interesting thing was that Diogee seemed to know he couldn't just disappear without a trace. When Cavendish and Dakota made it out the door, he was in the distance, standing at the top of a hill, watching them. When he was them start running after him, he turned and began jogging down the other side of the hill.

And that's how the day progressed. Diogee continued casually sniffing around for Milo, traveling to all the spots he knew Milo had visited. And Cavendish and Dakota tried everything they could to catch up to him, but Diogee kept himself always in sight, but just maddeningly out of reach.

"I'm hungry," Dakota whined at some point. "Can't he just allow himself to be caught for an hour while we have lunch?"

"Actually," Cavendish observed. "I think he just might. He's being very careful not to lose us. It's almost as if he feels he has to watch over us."

Dakota looked himself and his friend up and down, and all the mud and branches and scratches that covered them both. "He's not wrong."

So they were able to stop for lunch, and then they kept up the chase. It was getting exhausting, and they were almost on the verge of letting him just wander, since clearly he knew how to take care of himself, when they reached a very fancy hotel downtown. Diogee stopped in front of it and whined, and finally Cavendish and Dakota were able to pounce on him.

And that's when Milo came out, with Zach and Melissa on either side.

"Diogee!" Milo cried, rushing towards his pet. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know, we just thought we'd walk him right through the city…" Dakota started, while Cavendish cried at the same time, "Your dog has the worst case of separation anxiety I've even witnessed!"

Milo laughed. "Yeah, I should have expected he'd try to follow me. Sorry."

Dakota looked up at the hotel. "This is where you went on vacation?"

"Yeah!" Milo said. "I know, it's not that far away, but Mom wanted a break from having to worry about Murphy's Law, and said she wanted to just pay someone to worry about it for her. It's been pretty quiet, though, for some reason. Anyway, I thought they wouldn't allow dogs since it's like the fanciest hotel in the city, but turns out they do! So I can take him back now. That is, unless you want to keep taking care of him…"

"No!" both the time travelers cried.

"It's not that he isn't a great mutt," Dakota said.

"It's just that we much prefer enjoying him from a distance," Cavendish said apologetically.

Milo laughed again and nodded. "Yeah, I get that. Thanks for being willing, though." He pat his dog on the head, and said, "All right, Diogee, you can go on in."

And Diogee barked happily and followed his master inside the building.


	5. 5 Alice in Wonderland (2010)

**A/N: I don't know why I fell so strongly in love with Tim Burton's** _ **Alice in Wonderland**_ **, especially when a lot of people, I think, didn't care for it so much. But, I did, and it's one of my longest lasting fandoms, so here is a little prequel I wrote for it.**

 **Ch. 5—The Name That Brings Hope**

Life was pretty terrible for the residents of Underland, with the Red Queen reining and getting more savage every day. Of course, she often couldn't be bothered to actually go out and seek to capture anybody in particular, but woe to anyone who got in the way of her army of Cards. Or the Bandersnatch. Or the Knave, even though he too could usually be gotten away from pretty easily unless he had a direct order to bring you back to the Queen. But, except for the days when the Queen had run out of heads to chop off, she usually felt secure enough in her authority to not bother learning about any plans to start an uprising against her. The thought never even occurred to her. Yes, the thought of Alice resided in her mind somewhere, as it did in the minds of all, but, like most, she assumed that Alice was never really going to return to Underland. It had been so long. Surely if she was going to do it, she'd have done it by now.

But there were some who knew better. There were some that believed so strongly in Alice that they were content to wait for her for however long it might take, as they knew she would return one day. There were others still who kept their views on the matter close to their chests, but who did not give into despair just yet.

But all of Underland wanted to. They wanted to believe in Alice, and yet at the same time they wanted to give in to despair. It was hard to keep going when you saw no progress, when your neighbors might be snatched up by the Queen any day, and when you couldn't even always be sure whose side your friends were on. No one was on the Queen's side _really_ , but you could never be sure who she'd enslaved or made a deal with so that they'd report anything suspicious to her.

So, when Absolem called a small group of people together and showed them the legendary Oraculum for the very first time, it caused quite a stir among all the residents. Most didn't think it existed in real life, and several assumed it had been lost to the mists of time, or that the Queen had it, just as she had the Vorpal Sword.

But here it was, right in front of them, and what's more, Alice could be seen on the Frabjous. Day. Holding the Vorpal Sword, no less. Killing the Jabberwocky.

The Jaberwocky. Another legend that very few actually remembered witnessing, since the Queen hadn't let it loose for centuries, and really wasn't likely to again unless something big prompted her too. The residents didn't live in as much fear of the Jabberwocky as of other things, but they knew that if, for whatever reason, the Jabberwocky _was_ let out, there had definitely better be a champion present to fight it, because otherwise no one would live past that day.

"It has been prophesized," Absolem said to those present, "That Alice will return on the Frabjous Day and seemingly will defeat the Jabberwocky. As we all know, the Jabberwocky is what keeps the Queen in power, because if anyone was to challenge her throne, she would simply release it and any challengers would die, as well as most bystanders. But without her precious pet, all she'd have is an army, and the White Queen has one just as good, not to mention the loyalty of all Underland. The Frabjous Day will occur this year, and though as of yet we have heard nothing of Alice returning, we know that it must be so. But there are things we can do to help the prophecy come true. The first thing is to spread this message to as many people as we can. They will have more heart to go on, and to resist the Red Queen if they know that our day is at hand."

"But if we do _that_ , then surely the Queen will hear the message, too," the Dodo Bird protested.

"Doubtless," Absolem replied. "But it cannot be helped. And, it may even help our cause. If she starts hearing whispers that she is not as safe as she thought, then it may help to unnerve it, and that will be to our advantage."

"But it will also make her more determined to kill or capture anyone who might be a friend of Alice's."

"Yes," Absolem said, offering no apology or comfort on this point. "It will."

Everyone was silent for a moment, and then Absolem continued, "The other thing we must do is, of course, alert the White Queen. I would have had her here, but it is not safe for her to be seen outside of her castle. Nor would it have been safe to try to bring the Oraculum to her. If the Red Queen gets her hands on it, or even if she knows exactly what it foretells, then it will make things worse for all of us. It may not hinder Alice in fulfilling her mission, but there will likely be more innocent blood spilled because of it."

"I will tell her," the White Rabbit piped up.

"Good," Absolem said. "And finally, I wish to know why it is that Mallymkun is not present here today."

"The Dormouse?" Both Tweedledee and Tweedledum asked. "She's mad!"

"She is no madder than any one of us here," Absolem replied. "And she is a very powerful asset, so I would have her know of the events unfolding. McTwisp, I trust that you can deliver her the message as well."

"Yes, yes of course," the White Rabbit said eagerly.

"Then I have nothing more to say," Absolem stated. "Disperse now, quickly, and be more on your guard now than ever before."

The White Rabbit took off at full speed towards the White Queen's Castle, but he was nervously looking around him the entire time. He knew it was too soon for the Red Queen to be suspicious just yet, but he was more fearful of getting caught than anyone else. He was just so timid. But he arrived at Marmoreal with no encounters, and was able to see the Queen right away.

She smiled as she saw him approaching. "I feel a change in the wind," she said. "What knews do you bring me, McTwisp?"

"I have seen the Oraculum," he replied. "And Alice is to slay the Jabberwocky on the Frabjous Day."

A look of pain crossed the Queen's face at the mention of the beast, but it was replaced by an even bigger smile. "Then our hope is restored," she said. "But she cannot get here all on her own."

"I know," he replied. "Last time I had to entice her down a rabbit hole."

"Mm," she said. "I wonder if you could perform such a feat again?"

"Again?" McTwisp asked in surprise. "She's…she'll have aged some since then, won't she? Enticing a child down a rabbit hole is much easier than enticing a young lady."

"Her curiosity will not have changed," the White Queen murmered. "Not if I know her. But it will take you some time to find her, since she will look quite differently now. So go! You must start at once! We wouldn't want her to miss the Frabjous Day."

And so the White Rabbit took off again, but he knew he had one stop to make first. He traveled through the Tulgy Wood until he came upon the tea party in the woods. The Dormouse and the March Hare were thowing food across the table at each other, and the Hatter was sitting slouched in his seat, tapping his pocket watch.

Suddenly the March Hare turned and shrieked. "Rabbit!" He cried in fear.

The other two turned, and then Mallymkun hopped off her chair and ran over to him. "What're you doing here, then?" she demanded.

"Absolem summoned you to a meeting," the White Rabbit told her. "Why weren't you there?"

"Oh, well," the Dormouse said breezily. "I guess I just must have lost track of time!" The March Hare pondered that statement and then began cackling, and Mallymkun merrily joined in.

"It was important," the White Rabbit insisted. "And you made him very angry by not going. You must have known that, Mally. So why didn't you go?"

The Hatter stirred. "I told her not to go," he mumbled.

"What?" the Rabbit squeaked. "Why?"

"Because that Bloody Big Head always has someone scouting those lands, and I won't let her have any more heads to chop off," the Hatter snapped.

"That's a risk we all have to take," the White Rabbit said cautiously, though most of the time he was terrified of crossing the Hatter. Or of anyone else, really. "And she's small, who is even going to see her?"

"Dogs can see her," the Hatter pointed out.

"You know perfectly well that Bayard would never harm her," the Rabbit retorted. "He fears you too much."

"Then he's got more sense than you!" the Hatter cried, standing up and slamming his fist down on the table. "You should know better than to talk back to me, you sniveling, trembling, pathetic white heap of—!"

"Hatter!" Mallymkun scolded sharply.

The Hatter closed his eyes and drew in a breath. He then opened them and flashed her a quick smile. "Thank you," he whispered. "I'm fine." But he turned and began walking away.

"Absolem showed us the Oraculum!" the Rabbit called after him. "And it showed that the Frabjous day is to be the last day of the Red Queen's reign!"

The Hatter continued walking without a word, and so the Rabbit called desperately after him, "And the Jabberwocky is to be slain with the Vorpal Sword! Do you know who the only person who can wield that sword is?"

"No one in Underland," the Hatter muttered, but loud enough for them to hear him.

"Hatter, the White Queen has sent me to fetch her," the Rabbit finally announced.

The Hatter froze, and slowly, deliberately, he turned around. He walked even slower back to the table, walked right up to the Rabbit, and crouched down so that their noses were almost touching.

"Who?" he breathed.

The White Rabbit feared for his life in that moment, but he knew it would be even worse for him if he did anything other than say the name the Hatter was waiting to hear.

" _Alice!"_

"HA!" The Hatter cried, jumping excitedly up in the air. "Now that is a meeting you should have gone to, for shame, Mally, don't let me catch you missing the next one. Well, what are you still doing here, Nivens? The Queen gave you a job, so get doing it! Down with the Bloody Big Head!" And he began dancing around, making his companions laugh, as the White Rabbit hopped away half laughing, and half trembling, to go and bring Alice back to Underland.


	6. 6 Deltarune

**A/N: I had absolutely no plans to make a Deltarune fanfic. For one I'm not entirely sure that I liked it, and for another I was thinking to myself, "No way, what would I even write about?" But then a story jumped into my head, and here it is.**

 **I'm definitely no Game Theorist, so the "theories" I present in this story are just things that I thought would be interesting, and not what I think will actually be in the full game. I actually didn't mean for it to go as dark as it does, but, they kind of emulate my feelings about this game. I love Undertale. I'm not sure yet if I love Deltarune. I guess I'll just have to play Chapter 1 again to find out.**

 **Ch. 6—Another Him**

Kris was counting down the hours until Asriel walked through the door. Counting down the minutes. Counting down the seconds…

And there he was, bursting in with all his joviality, and his warm affection towards his mother and brother, laughing while she planted him with kisses, and slinging his arm around Kris, giving his shoulder an affectionate squeeze. Everything was somehow always okay when Asriel was around.

But though Toriel wanted to sit her eldest down right then, and fill him up with pie, and probably talk for hours, Asriel had other ideas.

"It's almost time for the church service," he pointed out. "We should go!"

A doubtful look crossed his mother's face. "Oh, darling, I don't know…you just got here…wouldn't you rather…"

"I know, but I want to see everyone else, too," Asriel said. "And they probably will want to see me. Come on, it'll be fun! Like the good old days! I'll have plenty of time to spend with just you and Kris in the next couple of days, and this is the most efficient way to see everyone at once."

"Very well," Toriel said. "I suppose we're still spending time together, after all."

"My thoughts exactly," Asriel replied. "Because I invited Dad to come, too."

"You did what?" Toriel's face began to turn into a frown.

Asriel laughed. "Seriously, you two have to stop being so petty. Can't you put aside your differences for one afternoon? For your long-lost son?"

He gave her such pleading eyes that she had to give in. "Oh all right, I suppose I can indulge you just this once."

Asriel turned to Kris and gave him a high-five. "Ha, I _told_ you I could do it!"

Kris was very excited at what Asriel had managed to pull off, but he also dreaded the thought of a lot of time spent with the neighbors. He had something very important to tell his brother, and he didn't want to have to wait a long time for them to get a moment alone. And while he knew the town would be very excited to see Asriel, and would likely be crowding around him the entire time, he selfishly wished they could have just stayed quietly at home.

But, if Asriel wanted this, then Kris wanted it too, so he smiled at his brother and climbed into the van with him. When they arrived at the building, Asriel suddenly looked up at it with what looked suspiciously to Kris like moisture in his eyes. But when Kris tugged anxiously on his sleeve, Asriel blinked and his smile returned, and he looked down at Kris with perfectly dry eyes, as if nothing was wrong.

And of course, Asriel _was_ surrounded both before and after the service, but he always kept an arm protectively around his brother, or at least would look at him every so often and wink, so Kris would know he wasn't being forgotten or neglected. Eventually someone suggested they all go to QC's Diner, so they all made their way to the suddenly overwhelmed and overcrowded diner, and that was finally when all the excitement over Asriel began to die down a bit. People began talking to each other, and making comments to Toriel and Asgore about going to church together, which Asgore confidently acknowelged with a beaming face, and Toriel acknowledged with sour glances. In the midst of this confusion, and the stress of the waitresses trying to get everyone's drink order right, Asriel whistled to get Kris' attention, and tilted his head to the front door.

Kris followed him out, and watched as Ariel climbed up into the tree just outside, reaching his arm down to help his little brother climb up. When they were both seated comfortably out of view, Asriel looked anxiously into Kris' face. "Okay, what is it?" he asked. "I can tell something's bothering you."

Kris looked down and twisted his fingers nervously. He was terrified of speaking usually, and never did if he could avoid it, but with Asriel it was always easier somehow. Still, this would have been a difficult thing to put into words even if he did love to talk.

"You're not going to believe me," he finally decided to open with.

Asriel frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Hey!" he put his hand under Kris' chin and lifted his head. "Of course I'll believe you! That's what brothers do!"

Kris looked down again the minute Asriel took his hand away. "I…" He swallowed. "I think I…stumbled into another world…last week."

Asriel was silent for a moment. "You what?" he asked quietly.

"I mean maybe," Kris said quickly. "I don't know, I…"

"Well how did it happen?" Asriel asked. "Where were you?"

"At school."

"At school? Was Mom there?"

"Yeah, but she was in her own classroom. Me and Su—somebody else were sent to get chalk from the supply closet, only when we went into the closet we fell down some cliffs or something, and then there we were in another world."

Asriel was silent for another moment. "What kind of world?" he finally asked.

"I don't know," Kris said. "It was weird, it was kind of…magical. There was a prince who turned out to be a girl, and she said there was a prophecy that she and the other person and I were meant to fulfill…and then we traveled to this kingdom and we had to seal some fountains of light and dark…or something…and then suddenly the other person and I were back in an empty classroom."

Asriel had been listening intently, and now he nodded slowly. "I'll be honest," he said. "I don't know what any of that means, and none of it really sounds all that…familiar. But I do believe you, Kris."

Kris let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in. "You do?"

"100%," Asriel nodded. "But," he added, sliding out of the tree. "I don't know what to do about it. So we need to go find somebody who does."

"Do about it?" Kris asked, sliding down after him. "What do you mean? It's over, I fulfilled the prophecy, and I made it back home. I was just telling you because it was weird and I don't understand it."

"Exactly," Asriel said. "I don't understand it either. But if it happened to you once, it could happen to you again. So we're going to go find answers."

It was sort of surprising to Kris that Asriel just expected answers to be somewhere, in this quiet, ordinary town, but then again, in Kris' mind Asriel could do anything. Asriel took Kris' hand and began marching purposefully down a certain street.

Kris looked up at the store that bore the word "Sans." Why were they going this way? Why was Asriel knocking on the door of the house that Sans had said belonged to him?

The door opened, and Sans took one look as Asriel before saying "No," and starting to close the door again.

But Asriel put out his hand and stopped the door from closing. "Look," he said. "I know you don't trust me, but I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important."

This was even more surprising to Kris. Sans didn't trust Asriel? Why not? Everyone trusted Asriel; everyone loved Asriel!

And then came the most surprising thought of all. Sans had just moved here, so how did he and Asriel know each other already?

"My brother says he stumbled into another world last week," Asriel said.

Sans reluctantly began to open the door again, and looked dubiously at Kris. "You're his brother," he said. "Of course you are, how could I not have seen that?" He sighed and opened the door even wider. "Come in, then."

Kris looked up Asriel nervously, but Asriel just nodded and smiled encouragingly as they stepped in. Another skeleton was there, and he pointed at them and cried, "You're under arrest!"

Kris stepped behind Asriel nervously, but Sans just chuckled. "Don't mind him, that's just my brother, Papyrus. He wants to join the police force."

"I was about to become chief of police in my old town," Papyrus explained, puffing out his chest. "I don't know who the chief here is, but they'd better watch out, because I'm about to take their job!"

"Yeah, you should definitely run along and do that," Sans said, ushering him out the door. He closed it and then immediately turned around and grabbed Kris. He spread Kris' eyes wide with his thumb and forefinger, and peered into each one in turn.

"What are you doing?" Asriel demanded. "I haven't told you anything yet."

"How would he have been able to world-jump if he didn't have help?" Sans asked. "You know who he is, Asriel, and who he has the potential to be. I'm just taking precautions."

"I know," Asriel snapped. "But just be gentle with him, okay."

"Fine," Sans said. But suddenly he snapped his fingers, and a cage of bones appeared around Kris, who let out a startled shriek.

"SANS!" Asriel cried. "What the heck?"

"I'm not going to hurt him," Sans protested. "But I needed to see if his soul was still inside him. And it isn't. So where is it?"

"What do you mean his soul isn't still inside him?"

"I mean it's not inside him, Asriel, and that's an incredibly bad sign, so what happened to it?"

"How should I know, I only got home this morning!"

"Okay kid," Sans said, turning to Kris. "What kind of world did you go to?"

Kris swallowed nervously and looked up at Asriel. His brother gave him a sympathetic look, and said, "He said he opened a supply closet at school and just sort of fell in. It was a magical world, and he was part of a prophecy to close up geysers of light and dark, and once he fulfilled it, he came home. That's right, isn't it, Kris?"

Kris nodded.

"When did this happen?" Sans pressed.

Kris swallowed again. "Monday."

"Was anyone with you?"

Kris nodded hesitantly. "Susie was with me."

"Who the heck is Susie?" Sans asked, looking at Asriel.

Asriel just shrugged, and asked, "Did anything in that story sound familiar to you?"

Sans didn't answer. He just walked towards the door and said, "Come on, we need to find out where Kris' soul might have gone."

"You think he just misplaced it?" Asriel shouted. "If someone took it someone took it, Sans!"

"I didn't say we were looking for the soul," Sans said calmly. "I said we needed to find out where it might have gone. What day is it, Sunday? So the school is closed. So we'll start there."

As they walked towards the school, Kris tugged on Asriel's sleeve. "What's going on?" he whispered.

Sans looked back at both of them, then shared a look with Asriel before looking front again.

Asriel gave a sort of sad smile. "It's…difficult to explain," he said. "But, remember when I believed you earlier? Because I said that's what brothers do? You're going to have to believe me now, when I tell you this." Kris nodded, and Asriel continued, "This world…it's not one we're really meant to be in."

"Well, that's not entirely true," Sans called. "It's a parallel universe. There's nothing wrong with being in a parallel universe."

"There is if you belong to both," Asriel retorted. "And if you can remember being in both. See, Kris, in another universe, monsters and humans didn't get along like they do now. There was a war between them, and the monsters ended up being locked underground, only able to escape if they collected seven human souls. That meant that they had to kill any human that ended up down there, and if that human didn't want to be killed, they…"

Sans turned sharply around and gave Asriel a warning look. "Never mind," Asriel said quickly. "The humans usually were killed, and eventually monsters were able to be free of the underground. But there was a…human, of sorts, I suppose, who didn't like that ending, and they did everything they could to try and change the ending. But she couldn't get it to stay permanent, and so after a while, with the ending always in flux, she succeeded in just changing the universe altogether. One that was happier for her. One that was happier…for me."

Sans turned around again and looked about to say something, but then changed his mind.

"But," Asriel sighed. "You can't just change the universe and be really, truly happy and content, because everything just feels all wrong, and hurts even more than whatever pain you felt in the previous life. There were only three people in that universe who carried their memories over to this one. Her, of course. Sans. And me. It's easier here. It's happier, it's more peaceful and normal, because there's no magic or rivalry between humans and monsters. And the characters that we've become here, they are genuinely who we actually are. But Sans and I, we also know who we were in that other universe. And even though I'm not…proud of what I was in that one, I know that if there was a way to go back to it, we'd have to take it. You stumbling into another world might be the key to getting there."

Kris wasn't sure he really understood everything Asriel had just told him, but he believed him, just like Asriel had asked. "What happened to her?" he asked. "Who is she, in this world?"

"She killed herself," Asriel said flatly and without hesitation. "Couldn't take the strain anymore. At least…at least that's what we thought. We…uncovered something recently that showed maybe she didn't die, maybe she just…went into hibernation, as it were. Or erased her memory of the other world. Waiting until someone figured out how to go back, and then she would arise again."

"That's what we're afraid of," Sans put in.

They arrived at the school and Kris showed them both the closet and the empty classroom, but both were normal, and completely tidy. Sans wanted to go find Susie next, but Kris didn't know where she lived. So their next stop was Kris' bedroom at home. Kris was silent almost all the way there, but as they reached the front porch he asked, "Why would we have to leave this world? If no one is unhappy here except for the ones who remember?"

"Because this world…" Asriel started, but his voice broke and Kris tears come into his again, like they had earlier.

"Because this world had a horrible secret," Sans said bitterly. "And that secret is that your choices don't matter."

Kris didn't know what to say to that, but he wouldn't have time to make a reply anyway, because they had arrived in his bedroom, and Sans pointed to one corner.

"Well, there's your soul," he said. "How long has it been there?"

Although Kris had believed what his brother was saying, it was difficult to actually make it a reality in his mind. But seeing his soul sitting in the broken cage in the wagon was enough to make him suddenly feel how real it actually was.

"I don't know," he whispered.

"I don't either," Sans said grimly. "But I don't think we can doubt any longer, Asriel, that Chara is indeed working through Kris again, and she is preparing to make her return."


	7. 7 Gravity Falls

**A/N: I don't know what it is about Gravity Falls more than anything else, but I really like unlikely friendships or relationships. Like Robbie and Mabel. Or Dipcifica. Never seen one like this story, though, which is why I decided to write it.**

 **Ch. 7—The Princess and the Paupers**

Stan was calmly sipping his coffee when he happened to glance out the window. What he saw made him spit out his drink, drop his mug, and rush to the gift shop.

"Abort, abort!" he cried, frantically punching the code into the vending machine. "Sixer, I need to borrow your lab for the next few…hours."

"What on earth has gotten into you, Stanley?" Ford asked, who had followed Stan from the living room. "What did you see?" He looked out the window and saw a little blonde girl walk up to the front door and knock. "Is _that_ what you're afraid of? Stanley, she's just a child!"

"Pfft," Stan said. "I'm not afraid of her! I just…I really don't trust myself not to wring her neck when she talks about how much better she is than everbody. Some of the stuff she says to Mabel…"

The knock was repeated, and Ford turned to Stan in exasperation. "Well, you can't just leave her on the porch! And Dipper and Mabel won't be back for at least another hour, so you'll just have to entertain her until then."

"Entertain her!" Stan said. "I'm sure she'd love that! What am I, her trained monkey? Her butler? Her babysitter? All of the above?"

"I meant entertain as in keep her company until the kids get back," Ford replied. "She's probably here to seem them, right?"

"I don't know why she's here!" Stan shouted. "But this is my property and I'll chase her off if I want to!"

"It's _my_ property, and you'll do no such thing!" Ford shot back.

"Well, why don't you entertain her since you're so interested in that idea?"

"Me?" Ford asked, making a noise that Stan would have almost called a squeak. "I don't know her!"

"So? She came to _your_ house."

The knock turned into a pounding, and a voice could be heard shouting, "Open up, you creeps, I know you're in there! I can hear you arguing!"

Both fell immediately silent, and then Stan shoved his brother. "Answer the door," he said in a hoarse whisper.

"No _you_ answer the door."

"I already told you I can't trust myself around her!"

"Stanley, this is childish. Just march out there like a man and receive your guest!"

"And now we're back to it being my house," Stan said, his voice growing louder.

"I don't even know her name, how can I possibly greet her?" Ford asked, his voice growing just a tad louder than his brother's.

"Make something up, that's what I do! She'll probably think you're me anyway!"

"The people in this town aren't _blind_ , Stanley, they know there's two of us walking around now."

"Okay, seriously, I'm just gonna let myself in if you guys are too savage to know basic manners!" came the voice from the porch.

Ford gave a loud sigh. "All right, how about this: you go let her in and I'll find some snack or something that I can bring her, and then we'll both entertain her. All right?"

Stan raised an eyebrow. "Really? We're compromising now?"

"Just do it before I change my mind!"

Stan began dragging his feet towards the door, but Ford called after him, "Wait! What's her name?"

"Her name's Pacifica," Stan said as loudly as he could, knowing the girl on the porch would hear.

He opened the door and tried to put on his scariest frown for her. "Whaddya want?"

She crossed her arms. "I heard your whole conversation, Mr. Pines, and I know you're scared of me, with good reason, so there's really no point in trying to scare _me_."

"Just because you're rich and spoiled doesn't mean I can't still lock you in my basement," Stan growled.

"I'm here to see Dipper and Mabel," Pacifica said.

"Why? I thought you hated their guts, why would you trek alone through the woods to see them? Did you really want to tear down their self-esteem that badly?"

"That's none of your business," Pacifica snapped. "But if you want to know so badly, go tell them I'm here. See if they run away."

"They're not here," Stan said.

Pacifica's face…fell? A little bit? Was that possible? But then she put on an even sterner look, and said, "Well, I'll just come in and wait for them to get back, then!"

That was what Stan had been dreading, but he knew he no reason to deny her, so he sighed and opened the door wider. She looked almost surprised, as if he'd called her bluff, but she proudly marched in, and Stan led her to the kitchen.

"Hello, my dear," Ford said smiling at her. "Would you care for some Chipackerz?" He handed her a plate, before pulling one out of the box and looking at it reflectively. "And I thought food in the multiverse was weird."

"Yeah, hi," she said, sitting down. "Points for actually knowing to serve your guests food, but I'm not hungry, thank you. I'm just waiting for Dipper and Mabel, so you can go back to doing whatever it is that old people do."

Stan snorted. "One day you'll be old too, sister," he said. "And I doubt science will be advanced enough by then to completely prevent wrinkles."

"Actually, I have been working on…" Ford started, but he stopped at a look from his brother. "Well, never mind," he said airily. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting. Pacifica, isn't it? I'm Ford Pines." He held out his hand, and to the surprise of everyone present, she took it and smiled up at him.

"I don't have anything pressing at the moment," Ford added, sitting down at the table with her. "And all Stan does is sit around watching TV, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind sitting here with us until Dipper and Mabel get back."

"In case you couldn't tell, that's code for 'we don't trust you alone because we don't know what you're planning to steal,'" Stan added.

"Really? I thought it was code for "we're old, of course we don't have anything better to do,'" Pacifica retorted. Ford clapped his hand over his mouth and began making some strangled noises as his face turned red. Stan tried to frown at him, but eventually a grin overtook his features as well.

"That's funny," he admitted to Pacifica.

She grinned back, and tossed her hair. "Anyway," she said. "You have absolutely nothing I'd want to steal, anyway. Even if there was, I could just buy it for myself."

"Annnd there it is," Stan said. "Too bad, kid, I almost liked you there for a second."

"Not surprising. Everyone likes me. It's an inevitable fact of life. Even Dipper and Mabel..." Suddenly she blushed and looked down.

Stan raised his eyebrows, and Ford leaned over to her. "Why do you want to see them, Pacifica?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know," she muttered. "I just want to, okay? Even I get bored sometimes, even though I'm not old. They…I mean after the party at Northwest Manor they said I could come over sometime, so today I just thought, 'why not?' "

"They invited you over?" Stan asked in surprise. "I don't think liking _you_ is inevitable, but liking them pretty much is, so no surprise there, really. But you've only ever made fun of them before, so what happened to make them suddenly want to bond with you?"

"Because they're good kids," Ford said. "Much better than we ever were." He looked at Pacifica again. "Isn't that right?"

She didn't say anything, and then Ford pressed, "Northwest Manor, huh? I knew a Preston Northwest once, but he was a pretty arrogant kid, always talking about the day he'd own the town…"

"He's my father," Pacifica said quietly.

"Oh," Ford said, as Stan suppressed a laugh. "Well," Ford added quickly. "He was only a kid, I'm sure he's grown out of that by now."

"No." Pacifica shook her head. "He hasn't."

"Oh." Ford was quite ashamed of himself, and wondered why Stan wasn't making fun of him. But when he looked up, Stan was looking at Pacifica in a way he hadn't before. Ford understood. This girl was lonely. This girl was rich and spoiled and came from a horrible family, but she was lonely. And Dipper and Mabel had seen that. Somehow, even though they weren't even teenagers yet, they had realized what no one else in the town had. Ford felt a swelling of pride in his heart for his niece and nephew, and he was fairly confident that Stan felt that, too.

Pacifica tossed her hair and reached for a cracker. "These are the ones from TV, right?" she asked. "I've always wanted to try them."

"You've never had Chipackerz before?" Stan asked in disbelief. "What, can your family not afford brand-name food?"

Pacifica rolled her eyes, but she giggled. "We never shop at the grocery store in Gravity Falls. We get all our groceries imported from various parts of the world," she said. "But these are actually pretty good."

"Wow," Stan said. "I never thought that money would cause such sacrifice."

"Fortunately, Stanley, you will never be rich," Ford assured him. "You will never have to give up your Chipackerz."

"Well thank goodness for that," Stan said, grinning when the other two laughed.

As their laughter died, more laughter was heard from outside, and Ford stood up, with Pacifica instantly following suit. "Sounds like your friends are back," Ford said, looking at her to see how she responded to the word. Her face lit up as she looked out the window.

"Yeah," she said. "Thanks for letting me wait for them." She ran out, but stopped tentatively as they approached her. But Ford and Stan saw that Mabel flung her arms around Pacifica and Dipper grinned at her, and instantly began talking over each other as they told her what they'd done that afternoon.

"You know," Stan said. "I think I'm actually starting to see what they see in her."

Ford looked at him and smiled. "Me too, Stan," he said quietly. "Me too."


	8. 8 Phineas and Ferb

**A/N: The inspiration for this may have partially come from "The Seer" by Ashley Simpson. Sort of. I mean, there's a moment in that where Doofenshmirtz tries to help Phineas because he wants to make Perry feel better, and I just thought that was super sweet. But this story idea is mine.**

Yep, I'm the maniac who blew up City Hall. But I didn't do it on purpose, I swear! There I was, innocently dragging my Sheep-inator into my brother's office for…secret reasons that I'm not going to tell you about now, but apparently the building was getting fumigated and no one was there. I may have hit my beautiful inator in frustration, and landed right on the self-destruct button.

Oh _I_ was fine, you needn't worry about that. I've survived much worse, believe me. But the explosion of my machine mixed with whatever bug chemicals were floating about in the air caused one of the biggest explosions ever seen in the Tri-State Area.

I was done for this time. I knew that when people ran to investigate the noise that would see me, as the only one who'd been inside the building, and even if OWCA let me off, the local police force wouldn't. Ugh, I _hate_ the local police force, even more than I hate Perry the Platypus. Fortunately I've only ever had a few run-ins with them, but they are never pleasant, and I knew my monthly alimony check probably wouldn't be enough to cover the fines I would receive for having blown up beloved Mayor Roger Doofenshmirtz's City Hall.

So I just kind of stood there, waiting for my fate to be sealed, when I suddenly saw a redheaded teen looking at me, with a horrified expression, even more horrified than the faces of his little friend group standing around him. I wondered if he thought I was a ghost for having survived the explosion, and I opened my mouth, about to correct him, when he suddenly took his hands away from his mouth and said in a shocked voice, "Oh my gosh. I just blew up City Hall."

I instantly clamped my mouth shut. Now don't look at me like that, even though yes, I knew it was me. But that triangle-headed kid had just sort of taken the blame for me, and I wasn't about to argue. As more people began to gather and talk loudly, while the kid looked like he was about to cry, I just sort of quietly slipped away.

No one saw me. Perry the Platypus wasn't there when I returned, though I saw the remains of his trap lying on the floor. I wonder where he'd been. But I knew he couldn't have seen me either, because otherwise he'd be here, giving me those scolding eyes. I was actually very pleased with myself for getting off so easily. And I hadn't lifted a finger! I did sort of wonder if there were security cameras that would recall the footage later, but, from what I heard on the news, apparantly the redhead had some elaborate contraption just outside City Hall at the time, and he'd been fixing something on it when the building went belly-up. Obviously his machine exploded because mine did, but he'd naturally thought he'd been the one to cause it. His name was Phineas Flynn, and he'd just turned 18. Apparently this was a pretty serious crime, even for someone with a reportedly clean record, because the police claimed that it could have been an assassination attempt, even though Flynn kept claiming that it was an accident, though entirely his fault and not at all the fault of the friends who were with him.

Noble, but that wouldn't do him any good if he wanted to stay out of prison. I could have taught him a thing or two about sliding the blame onto someone conveniently nearby.

I felt no remorse. If it wasn't Flynn in jail, about to go on trial, then it would have been me, and goodness knows I've been there enough times. This kid could go through it once, especially when he probably was too moral to ever do it again.

So yeah. I thought I'd got away pretty cleanly, and with absolutely no consequences.

What I didn't expect to happen was the effect it would have on my nemesis.

Perry the Platypus came in the next day very listelessly. He allowed himself to be caught, he didn't seem to be listening when I explained to him that my Echo-inator would cause everyone's words to be repeated back to them. He didn't even try to escape, even when I told him I was going to shoot him. He let me do it, without moving a muscle.

It was only afterwards that I remembered he doesn't talk.

I didn't have the heart to continue with my plan after that, so I just let him stay there, until Vanessa came over and told me to let him go already.

"I don't understand, he hasn't tried to escape this entire time!" I said.

"Of course not," she said. "That's his owner that accidentally blew up City Hall. Perry's probably worried sick about him."

That was Perry's owner? Did I know that? Regardless, I didn't think it'd be bad enough for Perry to continue his apathy all the rest of the week, while Flynn's fate hung in the balance. But it was, and every day I had to give up on my scheme and let him go home.

And then, one day, he just didn't show up at all. Now I was the one who was worried. At least Major Monogram had the decency to call and let me know that Perry wouldn't be coming until this thing with his owner was resolved, but it seemed like an afterthought.

I was only able to stand a couple more days of this. Now I was just feeling guilty. If it had been anyone else I would have gladly let them receive their life sentence or whatever, but if this thing that I'd done was interrupting both mine and Perry's daily schedules, then I had to do something about it.

I think I only did it because I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to go right then. I marched to the police station, and told them I'd been the one who destroyed City Hall, intentionally, and that I'd framed young Flynn so that I could go free. They were absolutely disgusted with me, and told me so as they roughly thrust me in Flynn's cell, while letting him walk away, but honestly I didn't much care what their opinions were of me. I didn't really care about Flynn's either, even though his look was a look of gratitude as he was marched away.

But Perry came to see me the next morning with the biggest smile on his little Platypus bill, and I realized that that was the reaction I had done this for.

And it was worth every inconvenience.


	9. 9 Big Hero 6

**A/N: Big Hero 6 absolutely changed my life when it came out, but because I loved Tadashi so passionately, I hated Professor Callaghan just as passionately for doing what he did.**

 **So I don't know why I felt the urge to write this, where I felt a little bit better towards him by the end for the first time since 2014.**

 **Ch. 9—Our Programming**

Cass Hamada felt an absolute sense of dread when she saw two police officers walk into the Lucky Cat Café. She really had to stop feeling like this; policeman were people too, and maybe they wanted a quick coffee or pastry just as much as anyone else. But still, she tensed up every time one came in. She remembered all too well the night that she'd had to pick up Hiro and Tadashi after they'd been arrested. She lived in constant fear of that happening again, even more so since now Tadashi wasn't around to protect his little brother.

But Hiro was right over there, helping to clear tables. Surely everything was fine.

The two policeman walked up to the counter and said, "Miss Hamada?"

Uh oh. "Yes?" She asked, hoping her voice wouldn't squeak.

"Is Hiro Hamada here?"

"Um." She knew she should just answer them instead of asking questions, but somehow she couldn't just do that. "Why, is something wrong? I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding…"

"Nothing's wrong," one of them said, smiling at her. "Don't worry, your nephew has done nothing wrong."

Cass was dying to ask then why were they here, how did they know her name and her nephew's name, and why did they want him if he wasn't in trouble?

But at least this time she had the sense to gesture to the corner, where Hiro was now staring worriedly. "He's over there."

"Thank you," they said.

From Hiro's point of view, he could see the color leave his aunt's face, and he was sure they were talking about him. But why? Had his past bot-fighting life been discovered? Was it illegal for him to be flying around the city on a giant robot, fighting crime?

Probably, actually, now that he thought about it.

And now they were walking over to him, and he decided to put on his best pair of puppy-dog eyes and claim that whatever he was accused of, he was only sixteen and didn't know any better.

"Hiro Hamada?" one of them asked as they approached him. "Do you know a Robert Callaghan?"

Now Hiro was just plain surprised. "Callaghan?" He asked. "You're here to ask me about Callaghan?"

"Not ask you about him, no," the officer said. "But he's been recently diagnosed with cancer, and this is a particularly bad week for him. He may not survive, and he's asking to see you. But we want you to know that you don't have to do it if you don't feel comfortable about it."

"Why wouldn't I feel comfortable?" Hiro asked.

"We don't know," the other one said. "But when people in the penitentiary ask to see someone specifically, there's usually a very good chance that they're not on good terms with that person."

Hiro gave a very slow nod. "I'll see him," he said. "Now?"

"Of course, we'll take you there right now if you'd like," the officer said.

Hiro asked his aunt's permission, and upon obtaining it, joined the policemen in their car. That part was actually super cool. The only other time he'd gotten to do that was when he'd been arrested, and Tadashi had been giving him such a death glare that he really hadn't gotten to enjoy that ride. But now he appreciated it fully, and was sorry when it was over.

A guard officer took him up to see Callaghan, and told Hiro that he'd be standing outside, but that Hiro could shout for him if he needed him for any reason.

Hiro nodded, but he really wasn't scared. He knew he had nothing to fear from Callaghan any more. He could only pray that the former professor would say nothing to cause _Hiro_ to violently lash out.

Hiro stepped inside the room, and carefully closed the door behind him. He looked at the bed, where Callaghan was staring back at him. If he was dying, you certainly couldn't tell from his eyes, which were as full of fire as ever. It was only his body that looked completely pale and wasted away.

"Hiro," he said. "What are you doing here?"

Hiro approached the bed carefully, and sat down awkwardly on the stool next to it. "You asked to see me, apparently," he said. "They sent a police escort to my house, and everything."

Callaghan didn't say anything, and now Hiro was aware of how completely awkward and uncomfortable this was. They hadn't seen each other since the portal. There had been some things said and done between both of them that hadn't been resolved. And Hiro suddenly realized that's why he'd been sent for, even if he didn't know what exactly to expect.

He didn't have to wait long. "Why didn't you kill me?" Callaghan asked. "When you finally had the chance, when I'd finally lost, why did you let me go?"

"Because I was a fourteen-year-old kid who wasn't gonna be responsible for taking another person's life," Hiro said, without hesitation.

"But you were willing to before that. When your friends had to stop you."

"You don't know that's what my intention was," Hiro said. "I didn't even know if that's what my intention was. I just knew I was so…well, you get it. I felt a lot better towards you when I found out you'd gone through the same experience I had. And also when…when my friends…showed me how Tadashi would want me to behave in that situation." He sighed. "I still don't think I would have actually let Baymax kill you."

Callaghan was silent for a moment, and then said, "But then why did you go in after her? In a collapsing portal, to rescue someone you'd never met, even though I'd given her up for dead?"

Hiro shrugged. "Tadashi again. I thought about what he would do, because that's what he did with you."

Callaghan looked at Hiro, his face turning a very strange shade of red. He squeezed his eyes shut and murmured, "Tadashi meant a lot to you."

"Meant a lot to me?" Hiro asked. "He was my whole world. He still is. I've just found better ways to keep him close to me than just sitting in my room, looking for people to blame."

"And you found someone," Callaghan said, opening his eyes again. "So, even if you weren't going to become a murderer at fourteen…you could have chosen not to go in after her. Why did you risk your life bringing back someone the most important person in my life, when I was the reason you'd lost yours?"

Hiro looked down and played with his fingers. "It wasn't her fault you did what you did," he said softly. "And anyway, leaving her there would have been murder of a different kind."

"Hiro," Callaghan said. "I asked you to come because I have to tell you this. And I don't blame you if you don't believe me, because it is going to sound contrived. But I am truly sorry for what I did. I honestly didn't intend your brother to get mixed up in my scheme…or anyone else for that matter. I was sure I'd set up the fire in such a way that no one would come in after me. How else would I have been able to escape otherwise?"

"No, yeah, I know that," Hiro said. "You don't have to tell me that; I guessed all of it. Obviously you didn't mean to kill him, and you couldn't have known he'd go in."

"But it's more than that," Callaghan said. "When I learned he'd died in that fire, I was absolutely crushed. Because he wasn't just important to you, you know. He was one of my best students, and besides being intelligent, he was just so kind and respectful and hard-working that I liked him straight away. He couldn't ever replace Abigail, of course, just as I imagine I couldn't replace his real father, but I think we both helped to fill that hole in the heart of the other. I like to think we did, anyway. I would have done anything to save your brother that day. If I'd known he was there I would have used the microbots to save him, even if that meant exposing my own plan. But I would have done it, because I already lost one child. I wasn't prepared to lose another."

Hiro willed and willed himself not to cry, but he felt tears stubbornly and forcefully leaving his eyes anyway. "But you seemed so indifferent when I confronted you," he whispered.

"I had to be," Callaghan sighed. "I had to be indifferent, or else I knew I'd probably waver. But when I did find out what had happened, I just felt all the more like I had to continue with my plan. I couldn't let his death be in vain, as it would be if I just gave up then. And I wouldn't have even had to start the fire if Krei hadn't sent my daughter to her death, so really, he was the cause of Tadashi's too. And so I just kept going and didn't look back. Again, I could never imagine you'd go around investigating his death, though you're even smarter than he was, so really I should have guessed."

He stopped, because his voice seemed to break a little bit, and Hiro was now struggling to regain control of his own composure. But neither seemed to know what to say after that. Hiro didn't know what he was even expected to say, or why Callaghan had felt the need to finally tell him all this. So finally, when the silence had become unbearable, he finally managed, "Is that all?"

"Yes," Callaghan sighed. "Yes, that's all. I just…I may die, Hiro, at any point. Or I may live another twenty years. But if this is it for me, I had to tell you. I needed you to know, not to redeem me as a person, but just so you could know that your brother was able to touch even hearts of stone." He gave a wry smile. "And you're probably very uncomfortable with all these sappy remarks, but hey, when you're old and probably aren't gonna be around very much longer, somehow your own pride isn't a thing you're so worried about keeping intact any longer. That's why people always wait until their deathbeds to reveal secrets, I suppose. Because embarrassment becomes nonexistent." He began coughing suddenly, raising his arm to cover his mouth and face.

Hiro stood up quickly. "I shouldn't be the one you spend your final moments with," he said. "I'm sure there's someone more important who should be here."

He sprang towards the door, as Callaghan stopped coughing. But as he reached the handle, he turned back and said, "I forgive you, by the way. I forgave you that day I saved your daughter. But thank you for telling me all that, anyway." Then he opened the door and rushed out.

Callaghan died in the next couple of days. Hiro hadn't thought he'd want to go the funeral—the real one this time—but when the time came he realized it was probably the right thing to do. At the burial site, Hiro spotted a young woman standing by herself, silently crying. He cautiously moved over to her, and waited to see if she'd recognize him. When he was sure she didn't, he shyly held out his hand and said, "Hey, I'm Hiro. I'm sorry for your loss."

She smiled bravely at him and took his hand. "Thanks," she said. "I'm Abigail. How did you know my father?"

Hiro turned to look back at the gravesite, and paused before answering. "My brother passed away a couple of years ago," he said finally. "And your father was a great friend of his." 


	10. 10 Best Friends Whenever

**A/N: I ship Cyd and Naldo so hard. I actually shipped Barry and Naldo for a while too, until Barry found Marci, and then Daisy.**

 **Whatever happened to Marci? Darn you Best Friends Whenever! (Don't worry, I still loved you)**

 **Ch.10—Cyldo Begins**

After the dance where Cyd and Naldo had discovered they liked each other, after the whole adventure with Daisy had ended and she was safely back in her timeline, after the four friends began settling back into normal life—because oddly after the initial excitement of all being able to time travel they'd sort of gotten over it—Cyd and Naldo began to again think of the dance where they'd discovered they liked each other.

And _that_ was definitely a problem. They didn't know what to do with this. And they didn't know who to turn too, either. Cyd had seen enough of Shelby's attempted matchmaking to know that it always caused a much bigger mess. And although Barry had fallen for two girls over the course of his high school life, which was one more than Naldo had fallen for, Naldo was aware that Barry didn't have any explanations for those feelings, either. Somehow it had worked out for him, but only because both of his girls had been so sweet and so similar to him that they'd looked past his flaws and awkwardness.

Naldo didn't think it'd be the same with Cyd. She was one of his best friends and he always had done anything she'd required of him, but he was a little bit terrified of her all the same. She was so unpredictable, and sometimes she'd punch him for reasons that were unclear to him.

Okay, he actually found that pretty endearing. But still, he was fairly confident that if he walked up to her now and said anything like, "so, what happened at that dance…" she'd punch him in the arm and tell him to shut up and never speak of it again. He didn't want to scare her off like that. He didn't want to never speak of it again. He figured he'd just have to wait for her to speak of it again. He began dropping hints, which he hoped were subtle, but even though all three of his friends looked at him so oddly that he guessed they probably weren't, they still were apparently subtle enough not to warrant a blow to the side.

As for Cyd, she picked up on those hints. Of course she did. She, too, was wondering how to bring it up. She was actually living in dread for the first couple days, because she had figured Naldo would talk to her about it. And she was also aware that she'd probably punch him, tell him to shush, and then would be too proud—or too awkward—to ever speak of it again. But she wanted to just as much as he did. It was just so weird. They'd been friends for so long. She didn't think they'd ever stop that, it was just nice to feel so comfortable around somebody, and if they had to talk about their feelings now, it would just be…weird.

Not that this crush was entirely new to her. She'd liked him ever since fourth grade. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She'd developed a crush on the cute boy with a hat in fourth grade. And then when she found out his name was Naldo, and he was best friends with Shelby's neighbor, and they'd started all hanging out together, the crush had sort of faded. Not that she liked him any less. But again, it was nice to just feel so comfortable hanging out with him, and not have to worry about anything else.

So when had it come back? Or had it ever really left? Still, something had to have triggered it, and she couldn't pinpoint what it was, exactly. Was it really all only on the dance? When both of them had seen the other one looking so…mature? So grown up? So serious?

Naldo was also wondering when he'd started to like Cyd. It couldn't have just been born the minute he saw her in that dress. It had to have been developing for some time, and the night of the dance was what pushed him over the edge.

Regardless, both were now very confused, and very awkward. They avoided being alone with each other as much as they could, and both secretly respected the other person for trying not to be caught alone with them. But still, it was getting ridiculous. They didn't know how to break the silence, and neither of their friends was offering any assistance, not that they'd asked for it. This surprised Cyd more than Shelby. Shelby hadn't said a word about the dance since Daisy had left, and Cyd knew it must be killing her inside. There must be a reason for it, because Shelby definitely would have at least wanted to investigate this further, and hear all the details, even if she was smart enough to stay out of the actual relationship part.

But not a peep from her, and Barry of course acted completely oblivious. It was like a game, a horrible waiting game full of so much tension that not even a knife would be able to cut through it, and everyone was waiting to see who would break first.

In the end, both Cyd and Naldo broke on the same day, at the same time.

But not to each other. Oh no, they weren't brave enough for that. Shelby had been gabbing on about her crafts site to Cyd, and hadn't stopped for breath in at least five minutes, until Cyd had suddenly leapt to her feet on the bed and cried, "Okay I like Naldo but I don't know what to do about it!"

And in Barry's lab across the way, Naldo had suddenly flung the door open and cried, "Barry! I like Cyd but I don't know what to do about it!"

Shelby had jumped up as well and screamed, "Finally! Oh my gosh, Barry made me swear a blood oath not to interfere until you asked me to. Tell me everything, Cyd, tell me everything, and don't you dare leave anything out!"

Barry hadn't even looked up from his microscope. "Yes," he said. "That's fairly obvious. But you're the ladies' man, Renaldo, not me. I have full faith in your abilities to figure it out."

"You don't understand, Barry," Naldo said. "I like Cyd, but I can't like Cyd! She's not a girl, she's…just…my friend."

"Renaldo," Barry said, finally looking up. "Being your friend is the best possible solution for you, because she already knows all your flaws, and yet she chose to have feelings for you anyway."

"Yeah, I know all that, what I mean is what do I do now?"

"Okay, here's what you do," Barry said. "You put on a suit. You buy a large bouquet of flowers and an expensive box of chocolates. You go over to her house, knock on her door, and say 'Cyd, you are the girl of my dreams, and if the dance is anything to go by, I suppose I am the man of yours. Now how would you like best to proceed with our inevitable relationship?"

Naldo looked impressed. "That's very formal, Barry."

Barry shrugged and smirked. "It's the only way to do things, Renaldo."

"But Cyd isn't very formal," Naldo protested.

"Trust me, Renaldo. Formality always sweeps girls of their feet. Especially the informal ones."

Meanwhile, Cyd was rolling her eyes, wondering if she'd made a mistake in asking for her friend's help. "For the last time, Shelby, I don't know when it happened or how it happened, it just sort of happened. And now I need help going forward, and you've had way more success with boys than I have."

"Right you are, Cyd," Shelby said, sitting up and putting her shoulders back. "We should focus on the task at hand. The secret is to never be confident. Let your hair fall in front of your face, like this. Hide behind it, like you're shy, so he feels like he has to draw you out. And don't stand up straight, and don't swing your arms when you walk. Put them around you, like you're hugging yourself because you don't trust anyone else to. And never, ever speak up. In fact, try not to speak it all, unless you absolutely have to, and then give the shyest and quietest answer you can, all while tucking your hair behind your ears."

"But you just said to let it fall in front of my face!"

"Yes, only tuck some of it behind your ears, and then tilt your head so that it just falls back down again. Just look super nervous every time you're around him, but make it obvious that you like him anyway, and suddenly he'll become putty in your hands."

"I don't want him to become putty, he's not an arts-and-crafts project!"

"Cyd." Shelby solemnly put her hand on Cyd's shoulder. " _All_ boys are arts-and-crafts projects."

And so about two hours later saw Naldo tugging the collar of his suit, and trying to figure out how to knock on the door while his hands were full of flowers and chocolate. Meanwhile Cyd was walking down the stairs as slowly as she could make her feet walk. She did arrive at the back door before Naldo figured out how to knock, however, and she opened it.

"Cyd!" Naldo said. "Hi."

"Sup, Naldo," she said, and then when she heard Shelby clear her throat behind her she said, "I mean…" She tilted her head so her hair fell in front of her face, and then began sputtering as some fell in her mouth.

"Renaldo!" came a loud whisper from somewhere outside. "Stick to the script! Remember, 'you're the girl of my dreams…'"

"Cyd," Naldo started, shifting his possessions. But then he stopped.

Cyd looked up at him, remembering not to say anything.

"Arms around your body!" Shelby hissed.

"Speak up, Renaldo, don't let her speak first!" came the whisper from the bushes.

And Naldo just looked at Cyd and grinned, and she stood up straight and grinned back, listening to their friends shout helpful advice.

"I've got a gift card for frozen yogurt," Naldo said finally. "Wanna go do that?"

"I do love me some Froyo," Cyd said, linking arms with him. "And you can ditch the flowers, but I will have the chocolate, thanks."

Barry and Shelby watched them walk off, and then Shelby yelped a triumphant, "I nailed it!" While Barry wiped away a fake tear and said, "Sometimes I astound even myself with my good advice."

But even though Cyd and Naldo heard them, they didn't say anything. They smiled up at each other, and agreed through a mutual look to let their friends have this. After all, they had each other. 

And also frozen yogurt to look forward to.


	11. 11 Star vs the Forces of Evil

**A/N: Okaaay, sooo, apologies for this one. I'm not even really in the Star vs. the Forces of Evil fandom; I only included it cause I like the four characters in this story and I needed my list to reach 30 fandoms.**

 **So, here we are. Hopefully tomorrow's will be better.**

 **Ch. 11—Go Fish**

Marco tried covering his ears with a pillow, but he could still hear the voices of Tom and Pony Head getting louder and louder.

"They're just foreign people talking in a language you don't even understand!" Tom said, for what must have been the billionth time.

"HEY!" Pony Head cried. "Anime is an art form which you're just too uncultured to understand."

"I'm uncultured? Whose parents literally forced them to have an art tutor since birth?"

"Uh, I'm sorry, is someone talking? 'Cause I don't speak nerd," Pony Head said, flipping her mane.

"You don't speak Japanese either!"

"Ugh," Marco cried, sitting up. "Star, can't you get them to shut up?"

"Oh Marco, I've spent waaay too many years trying to do that," Star said, as she struggled to make Glossaryck sit still. "I've concluded that it's not possible."

"Well, for one thing, we could stop sitting around," Marco said. "Come on, let's at least play a card game or something."

"What is this, a sleepover?" Pony Head, asked, rolling her eyes.

"You love sleepovers," Marco reminded her.

"Oh yeah," she answered. "All right, let's get this party started then! What're we playing?"

"I was thinking Go Fish!" Marco said eagerly.

"No," Pony Head instantly retorted. "I don't know what that is, but I don't wanna go fishing. Sea water always messes up this mane, and I can't just wake up looking this perfect! Jk. I totally can."

"You go to the beach all the time," Tom reminded her.

"To get a _tan_ , duh! With a tan you look so amazing that's no one's checking to see if your mane is messed up."

"Well," Marco said. "This doesn't involve going to the beach. Go Fish is a card game. You ask others if they have the same cards of you, and if you don't, then you have to draw a card from the deck."

There was silence, before Pony Head stated the obvious. "That sounds dumb."

"Yeah, I kinda actually have to agree with Pony here," Tom said reluctantly. "Sorry, Marco."

"Nah, it's actually pretty fun! I used to play it all the time with my parents."

"And you just made it dumber," Star put in.

Marco looked at her in surprise and squinted his eyes. "Et tu, Star?"

"Whatever, I'm bored anyway, so let's just play your dumb earth game," Pony cried.

Marco smiled triumphantly, and dealt out the cards. "Star, do you have any threes?"

She let out a huff. "How did you know?" she asked, handing over two cards. "Tom, do you have any twos?"

"Nope," he said. "Go fish. Pony, got any Jacks?"

"Go fish," she said primly. After Tom had drawn a card, Pony asked, "Hey Star, got any Jacks?"

"What?" Tom snapped. "You said you didn't have any!"

"No, I actually just told you to go fish," Pony said, tossing her mane. "I ain't giving up my Jacks! They're the hottest guys in the deck! I want all of them for myself!"

"Those aren't the rules!" Marco cried.

"Those are _Pony's_ rules!" Pony declared.

Tom folded his hands and raised just his first fingers to his mouth, narrowing his eyes. "Oho, so we're playing that kind of game. I see. Well, Pony, do you have any…"

"Tom, it's not your turn!" Marco protested.

"Kings!"

"No, loser, I don't have any kings!" Pony Head shot back.

"Well, I don't have any either, so who's the loser now?" Tom demanded.

"Ooh," Star breathed, her eyes getting big. "This is getting interesting. Star want in. Tom, I'll give you a kiss if you give me your Jacks!"

"I can get a kiss from you any time, and what do you want with my Jacks?"

"I want them so I can trade them to Pony for something later," Star explained. "And just because you're my boyfriend doesn't mean I choose to kiss you all the time!"

"Fine," Tom said, throwing his cards at her. "Can I have it now?"

"No, you can have it later," she smiled. "Pony?"

"No, don't talk to me, you blackmailer!" Pony Head cried, turning her head away.

"I haven't even said anything!"

"No, but you blackmailed Tom just so you could blackmail me!"

"I was just thinking we could come to some sort of arrangement," Star said airily, twirling the card in the air.

"You think I care about the stupid Jacks enough to just hand over anything you ask for?"

"No," Star said. "The Jacks are a gift." She laid them in front of her friend. "Now, may we negotiate? I wish to know what you would like in return for your genie lamp."

Pony Head's eyes widened. "STAAAR why would you tell the boys that I have a genie lamp?"

"Because I was going to tell them when I got it away from you!"

"Well, it's not gonna happen," Pony said, turning to Marco. "Hey, you got any fives?"

"I don't know," Marco said bitterly. "Maybe I like my fives too much to give away, what are you gonna do about that?"

"I'll trade you my Jacks," Pony said. "Then you can trade them to Tom, and he can trade them to Star again."

"I don't want any more Jacks if you don't want them!" Star cried.

"Then I don't, either," Tom said promptly.

"Then I don't either," Marco said.

"Well then, how about I don't call you names for a week?" Pony Head asked Marco.

"Deal." Marco didn't think about the word before it left his mouth. He'd been determined not to get into this game of strategy which had so far deviated from what it actually was, but Pony Head's offer was too tempting to pass up.

"Tom, do you have any sevens?" Star asked Tom.

Tom looked her dead in the eye and said. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

Star moved her face closer and squinted her eyes at him. He did the same, and they stared like that for several seconds before Star said. "I think you do have them. Hand them over, or I won't give you that kiss."

"Star, that's no fair!" Tom whined, but he did hand over a seven.

"Pony, do you have any threes?" Marco asked.

"Hey, woah, what are you coming after my threes for?" Pony demanded.

"What do you mean, I'm just playing the game!"

"Um, excuse me, but my cards are not just objects that you can take," Pony said haughtily. "You'll have to fight for them, you stupid earthling!"

"Hey, what happened to no name-calling?"

"It's not name-calling if it's true!"

"Well, fine," Marco said, jumping up and pulling out his sword. "I challenge thee to a duel for thy threes."

"Are you kidding? Ladies don't fight in duels," Pony Head gasped. "Tom, go fight my duel for me."

"No!" Tom said. "And just to make sure you don't hide behind me, I'm building myself a fortress." He waved his arms, and the cardboard boxes in the corner of the room flew to him and fell around him.

"Lame," Pony Head said. "I came with my own fort." And she shook a small folded piece of fabric out of her that popped up into a tent as soon as it touched the ground.

Star pulled out her wand and created an army of narwhals to protect her, while Marco grabbed all the bedding and small furniture to pile around him. And for the next several hours, they continued building the worlds, and forming alliances, and creating more depth to their stories as the war of the cards continued. It ended with the room setting on fire, and Pony Head blasting her loudest music, and nachos sticking to every surface, and Spider with a Top Hat demolishing everything else on sight.

The four lay on the ground, panting, as Star lazily lifted her wand to put out the fire.

"Oh man," Pony Head gasped. "I love Go Fish. Let's play it again tomorrow."


	12. 12 Merlin

**A/N: I actually don't even remember why I'm really in the Merlin fandom, because it happened so long ago. But I do remember "The Drawing of the Dark," and even though it was well-written from a story point of view, it stuck in my brain as the episode where everyone made mistakes. Merlin made mistakes. Mordred made mistakes. Kara couldn't make anything but mistakes. Arthur was actually the only mature one. But anyway, I decided to give that episode—and therefore show—a better ending.**

 **Ch. 12—How Merlin Should Have Ended**

Mordred gripped the bars of the prison cell, and Kara reached up to place her hands on his.

"I will speak with the king," he whispered.

"He will never show mercy to someone like me," Kara told him.

Mordred wavered, but only for a second, before he grit his teeth and promised, "I will _not_ let you die." He turned and walked swiftly away, but he didn't make it to the king's chambers before Merlin had stopped him in the corridor.

"Out of my way, Merlin," Mordred said tiredly.

"Are you going to speak to Arthur?" Merlin asked.

"I have to," Mordred said. "If he knows how important she is to me, then maybe…"

"Mordred," Merlin said gently. "He can't be your friend first. He has to be the king first. If he was your friend first, or either of our friends first, then we wouldn't have to hide who we are from him."

Mordred whipped around on him. "Well what am I supposed to do?" he hissed. "That girl means _everything_ to me, Merlin, I can't just sit back and watch her die just to save my friendship with Arthur!"

Merlin was silent for a moment. "Arthur is a very good and wise man," he said carefully. "And you heard him today. He didn't arrest her because she has magic. He arrested her because she tried to kill him."

"But if he lets her go, she'll never return, can't he see that?" Mordred asked desperately.

"And can't you see?" Merlin said. "Kara will have no love for the king if he spares her. She proved that by trying to stab him while he was helping her. She would have succeeded, too, if I hadn't intervened. I could have made that knife go through her chest. I almost did, but for you."

"If he spares her then she will see he is not all bad," Mordred protested stubbornly.

"And if you ask Arthur and he says no, what then?" Merlin asked. "Will you hate him forever, for being the man to kill your love?"

"He's already sentenced her," Mordred said. "I do not blame him for that. What I will blame him for is if he hears my plea and denies it."

"My point exactly," Merlin said. "The way I see it, if the chance is presented to either of them, they have the potential to deny it and break your heart. So why not avoid the choice altogether?"

"What are you talking about?" Mordred asked.

"We'll sneak her out," Merlin said.

"What?"

"The way we did with you," Merlin reminded him.

"Well, first of all, that almost ended very badly," Mordred said. "And second of all, we had Arthur's help."

"Yes, but this time we will have magic on our side," Merlin said. "And also neither of us have claimed to know of her, so we will be the last people they suspect."

"Unless we get caught."

"Yes," Merlin said. "Unless we get caught. But there will be the chance for Arthur to show just how much he values his friendship with us."

Mordred was silent. "So you intend to help me," he said. "You, who openly distrust me and who were willing to kill Kara based on her actions alone."

Merlin shrugged. "You've kept my secret," he said. "And _you_ have given me no reason to distrust you. I want to be friends with you, Mordred. I really, really do. I just…can't. Not yet. But I am willing to help you with this. After all, it's not like I haven't done it before. And I do care about others like us."

Mordred had been looking at him in surprise, but now he gave a genuine smile and threw his arms around Merlin. "Thank you, Merlin!" he cried. "Thank you thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah," Merlin said, pushing his arms away. "Meet me by the cells at midnight. I'll bring the smoke bomb."

The jailbreak part went without a hitch. Kara was surprised to see that Merlin was willing to help her escape, and was even more surprised to know that Merlin knew about Mordred's magic. But Merlin was very careful to hide his own from her. He trusted her even less than he trusted Mordred. They snuck out of the castle pretty easily as well, without raising any alarms. What none of them knew, however, was that Arthur had been called out to the woods to investigate a suspicious person that had been sighted. Finding nothing relating to this, however, he'd turned to go back to the castle, and that's when he caught sight of the three.

"Merlin?" he called in surprise, and then in even more surprise, "Mordred? What are you…" he stopped. "Is that the Druid girl?"

"She has a name," Mordred couldn't help reminding him, even though his heart was sinking. Their escape had been going so well!

"Indeed," Arthur said, sliding off his horse and walking over to them. "Do you mind explaining to me why you're helping her escape?"

"You're not…you're not going to arrest us?"

Arthur shrugged. "I'm alone," he said. "I know that she is wounded and that Merlin neither would fight me nor would have a chance if he tried. If we can't come to an understanding than I will have to fight you, Mordred, before calling for aid, but I'm really hoping we can avoid that."

Mordred had drawn his sword, but now he lowered it slightly, looking at Kara, who was silently shaking her head at him. Mordred sighed.

"I've known Kara since I was a child," he said. "I was the one who brought her the herbs for her leg. She is…I care about her very deeply, Arthur, and I couldn't just let you execute her without doing something."

Arthur's face softened. "Why didn't you just come to me and tell me that?" he asked sadly.

"Would you have let her go if I had?"

"I guess we'll never know," Arthur said. "What I do know is that now you've broken my trust." He turned to Merlin. "And you, what on earth are you doing out here?"

"Well," Merlin sputtered. "You see, I didn't…I mean I tried to…I mean I may have…"

"He saw me leaving and I kind of roped him into helping me," Mordred said quickly.

"I see," Arthur said, raising an eyebrow. "Merlin, someday, you're really going to have to develop a spine. Stand up for yourself."

"Please, Arthur," Mordred said. "I'm begging you, as my friend, to spare this girl's life. I promise she will cause no more harm to the people of Camelot, and you'll never see her again. I'll even go away with her, if you like."

Arthur shook his head. "That's the last thing I want, Mordred," he sighed. He looked at Kara. "I suppose there's no point in dragging you back now, is there?" he asked. "Seeing as how you've made it this far, and without anyone noticing, apparently." He looked at Mordred, whose eyes had begun to fill with tears. "All right, Mordred. You've never done anything to cause me grief before. I am willing to trust you this one time that she will never return. But you understand that if she does, she will be arrested and tried on sight, and I imagine that her sentence will be the same as it is now."

"Yes, yes I understand!" Mordred burst out. "Thank you Arthur, thank you!" He turned to Kara, and opened his mouth to speak to her, but she spoke first.

"I do not wish for your pity, Arthur," she said crisply. "And being banished is a sign that you still hate me and wish me dead. So," she turned swiftly and grabbed Mordred's dagger before thrusting it towards Arthur. "I won't give you a chance!"

"Kara!" Mordred cried, gripping her wrist. "Kara, he's shown you mercy, I told you he was a good man!"

She looked at him in horror. "You would stop me?" she asked softly. "You chose his side, over mine?"

"What?" Mordred gasped. "No, no I…"

"You've changed, Mordred," she said bitterly. "You've joined the enemy, and you've befriended the very person who killed my entire family."

"Kara…"

"No." She shook her head. "If he lets me go today, it is because he pities me, or does not think me a threat, and I will have neither. I will not become someone who will likely just be slaughtered alone anyway. And I will not live in a world where you cannot even trust those you love the most." She wrestled her wrist out of his hand, and looked coldly at him. "Goodbye, Mordred," she said, and turned the dagger towards her own chest.

"Wait, no, stop!" Arthur cried, lunging for her wrist.

But she had already plunged the knife deep inside her, and her scream mirrored Mordred's as she fell.

Mordred stared at her lifeless body in horror, tears streaming down his face. Merlin also stared in horror, not only at what he'd just witnessed, but because he was sure, now, that Mordred would hate Arthur forever.

Arthur stepped forward and reached out a hand to the knight. "Mordred…" he said softly, but Mordred didn't move.

"I'm so sorry," Arthur said. "Truly. I…know it must look like I've wronged you. And if you wish to leave Camelot, if only for a time, I will not stop you."

"No," Mordred shook his head, and drew a shuddering breath. "As much as I want to blame you for this, Arthur, it was entirely Kara's decision. And I do not wish to leave. I just lost her. I can't lose you and my other friends, too."

Arthur began patting his back encouragingly, but was thrown off balance when Mordred threw his arms around him and began sobbing into his shoulder.

Arthur awkwardly held him, then looked at Merlin, tilting his head first towards the body and then the horse.

Merlin nodded, gingerly picking up the girl and placing her on the horse, before all three began walking slowly back towards Camelot.

The story Arthur gave was that the girl had escaped, and Merlin and Mordred had chased her down until she killed herself in despair, with Arthur finding them moments later. He gave her a proper burial, even though some disagreed with him. But he did it for Mordred, and Mordred was properly grateful.

And even though Merlin kept a sharp eye for some time after, Mordred never did betray Arthur, and remained good friends with him until he was killed in battle some time later, fighting Morgana to the end.


	13. 13 Z-O-M-B-I-E-S

**A/N: Yep, I'm back with another dark one. Simply because I've had so much light and fluffy lately, and that really isn't my forte.**

 **ZOMBIES was already pretty dark for a DCOM, but I had to go and make it darker. And then I didn't know how to make it end on a positive note without sounding cheesy, but I went with the cheesy option anyway.**

 **Ch. 14—Our Darkest Day**

Addison knocked on the door, bouncing a bit on her toes as she did so. Occasionally one of her teachers would call her out for always moving, always dancing, but she couldn't help it. She was born in a cheerleader's body, and now that she was finally on the squad, her body itched even more to perform the routines, at any point of the day.

But, at this moment, it could also have been from excitement. Even though she was allowed to cross the border now, she didn't have reason to very often. So this was a good day.

She was about to knock again when Zed flung the door open. His face instantly lit up, and he threw her arms around her. "Addison!" he cried, picking her up and twirling her around. "Hey!"

"Hi, Zed!" she laughed.

"I didn't know you were coming today!" he said, beaming as he set her down.

"Yeah, well I was over at Eliza's doing homework anyway," Addison said, returning his smile. She wondered if faces could break from smiling so much, because every time she and Zed smiled at each other, it was like a contest to see who could do the bigger one. "So I thought I'd drop by!" she concluded.

"That's awesome!" He said, holding the door open. "Well, come on in!"

Addison complied, continuing to bounce on her toes as she did so. "Dad!" Zed called. "Addison's here!"

The man at the table looked up and smiled at her. "Hello, Addison! How are you?"

"Hi, Mr. Necrodopolous," she said. "I'm fine, thank you." She looked up at Zed. "So, where's Zoey?"

Zed shot his father a look, and Addison glanced behind her to see him return it. "What?" she asked. "Is everything okay?"

Zed looked at Addison again, and his smile returned. "Yeah," he said. "She's out back. Come on, I'll take you to her."

Addison was getting concerned now, but she followed Zed into the backyard, and saw Zoey lying down, with her head on top of her dog. Puppy seemed to understand that his owner needed him, and he was lying very still as well. As Addison got closer she could see a little bit of movement from Zoey, as her fingers very lightly brushed the dog's head.

Zed strode forward first. "Hey, Zoey," he said softly. "Look who's here to see you." He looked back and nodded at Addison to come forward. She did, slowly, and crouched down next to Zed.

"Hi, Zoey!" she said, as softly as he had.

Zoey turned her head just a fraction of an inch, managed the tiniest smile, and just barely lifted her hand in greeting.

"Look what Eliza and I made you," Addison said, pulling a bracelet out of her pocket.

Zoey's smile got a little wider, and she held out her right arm willingly as Addison strapped it to her wrist.

"What do you say, Zoey?" Zed asked gently.

"Thank you," Zoey whispered. She pushed herself up, and wrapped her arms around Addison's neck. "I love it."

Addison hugged her tightly in return, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. Was something wrong? Had anyone dared to harm this sweet little girl?

Zoey broke away and returned to her former position, again stroking the dog's head as she leaned on him. Zed stood up, and Addison followed him. Zed walked back towards the door, but he didn't go inside it. He set down on the bench next to it, where he could still see his sister.

Addison sank beside him. "Is she okay?" she asked anxiously.

Zed nodded. "She'll be fine. Today's just…always kind of a difficult day for her."

"Why, what's today?" Addison hated being so nosy, but she genuinely cared. It seemed that every time she came here she learned something new about the way zombies had been treated, and it always made her blood boil.

Zed hesitated before admitting. "Today is the day we always go and visit…my mom's grave."

"Ohhh." Suddenly everything made sense, and Addison leaned her head on Zed's shoulder. "Zed, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah," he said. "It's interesting though, because Zoey was only like one year old when she…I mean Zoey really doesn't even remember her. And she's always fine in the morning, before we go, even though she knows perfectly well what day this is and when it's coming. But something happens whenever we're there, I guess, and when we come back she's just kinda out of it for the rest of the day." He turned to Addison and smiled. "But don't worry, she'll be fine tomorrow. If you come back you'll see her practicing her cheer and throwing sticks for puppy and bossing me around like usual."

Addison began swinging her legs anxiously. There was something she wanted desperately to ask, but she didn't want to overstep her boundaries. Still, she had to know.

"It was because of us, wasn't it," she said quietly. "Did it happen because of us?"

"It didn't happen because of _you_ , Addison," Zed said firmly.

Addison sat up and looked at him. "But did it happen because of humans?"

"Yeah," Zed said shortly. "She worked at the high school. But you know that fire that happened six years ago? She got stuck in it. They claimed they didn't know she was in there, but she wasn't the only zombie that got stuck, and all the humans made it out fine. I'm not blaming them, Addy. I'm really not. And maybe they genuinely didn't know. But it still…hurts."

Addy balled her hands into fists and looked at the ground. Ooh, that made her mad. Part of her wanted to make humans feel the way they'd made zombies feel, but the rational part of her reminded her that sharing the suffering wouldn't make anything better. But still. She thought it.

But there was one thing that she hoped could make Zed feel better. "There was one human who didn't make it out," she said quietly.

Zed looked at her in surprise. "What?"

Just then, Zoey came over, clutching her stuffed dog Zander. She climbed up on the bench next to Zed and proceeded to put her head in his lap. Zed began absent-mindedly stroking her hair, as if this was a regular occurrence, and turned to Addison again. "There was a human who didn't make it out?"

Addison nodded, and leaned down to Zoey. "Hey," she said. "I'm so sorry about your mom. I can…kind of understand how you feel. Because Bucky, my cousin? He had an older sister. She was the best, and she was like an older sister to me, too. She got us both into cheer. But she…she didn't make it out of that fire either."

Zoey didn't say anything, but slowly put out her hand so that Addison could take it. Addison did so and squeezed. "It never stops hurting, does it?" She asked. "I know losing a parent is so much worse than losing a cousin, but…"

"No," Zed and Zoey said at the same time. "Don't do that," Zed said, shaking his head. "Don't compare losses. The point is we all lost someone in that fire, and that makes us even closer than we already thought we were."

"Yeah," Addison agreed. "And we can help each other get through it, right Zoey?"

Zoey finally sat up and smiled, a real smile this time. "Yes, Addison," she said. "We'll always help each other get through anything."


	14. 14 Castle in the Sky

**A/N: Sigh. I didn't love Castle in the Sky as much as I loved Spirited Away, or even My Neighbor Totoro. It was good, it just…was…forgettable. And I think this story will be as well.**

 **But I wrote it, and that's all that matters.**

 **Ch. 14—Sheeta and Pazu**

Sheeta clung to Pazu and waved energetically at the pirates, laughing with Pazu at the comedic way they bobbed along in the air. She could never imagine she'd have such warm feelings towards those who had once filled her with such fear. She almost would have liked to go with them.

But she couldn't. She absolutely could not have gone along with them now that they were close friends. She cared for them too much to do that.

When they were out of sight, she buried her face in Pazu's back as he guided their little glider back to his valley. He whooped in excitement as the wind played with them, and every few minutes he would call out to Sheeta so he could point something out to her. She would always raise her head obligingly and look, murmuring appreciatively, but she was afraid of enjoying herself too much, so she always retreated into Pazu's back again. It wasn't because she was scared. She had absolute faith in Pazu to know where he was going, and to get them there safely. These last several days had been very traumatic and exhausting to her, but also some of the most exciting and wonderful days she'd had in her entire life. She would re-live them in a heartbeat.

But the days that were to follow were ones that she wasn't looking forward to at all. And Pazu didn't know that. He couldn't know that. She could never, never tell him. Which was why even though she kept her eyes shut and didn't appreciate the view around her, she was enjoying every minute of that flight, and silently wished it would go on forever.

But all too soon, Pazu landed back in his valley, at the foot of the hill that bore his little house. He laughed and jumped off the glider. "Look!" he cried. "The birds are on the roof! They're waiting for me! I thought they'd fly away, but they came home!"

Sheeta smiled with genuine joy. He had told her that he'd released the birds once he joined up with the pirates, because he knew there was a very good chance that he would not be returning home. But if the birds had returned, then at least Pazu would not be lonely living there by himself.

"Of course they came back," she said. "You're their friend. Friends always return to each other, someday. You came back for me, and they knew you'd come back for them, too." She gave Pazu a quick hug and then turned away. "Thank you," she said. "I'll see you around."

"What?" Pazu asked, just like she feared he would. She winced as he continued, "Wait, are you going somewhere?"

She turned back. "I'm going home," she said simply. "Where else would I be going?"

"Is your home still there?" he asked.

How could he have possibly known that? No, when she'd been captured, her home had been ransacked. And since she'd been gone for some time, her animals were either dying or had been taken by a neighbor who assumed she was dead. But she didn't say all that to Pazu. She simply said, "Well, it may need a little bit of love and attention, but it looks like yours does, too." She smiled. "And I have animals waiting for me too, you know."

He titled his head and looked at her. "But you were all alone," he said. "And so am I. I thought you'd stay here with me, so neither of us have to be lonely anymore."

Sheeta could have burst into tears at the simple and innocent way he said that. The very last thing she wanted to do was hurt him, but that was exactly why she had to leave. "You have the birds," she smiled. "And the boss, and his wife. And the pirates know where you live now. I bet you anything they'll be stopping in from time to time. When they get tired of travelling."

"But that's not the same," he protested. "That's not the same thing as having someone here all the time. And anyway, they're all grown-ups. You're the only friend I have who is my age."

Sheeta was really on the verge of tears now, and she had to blink to clear her eyes. "Please," she whispered. "Please, Pazu, just let me go."

"Why don't you want to stay?" he asked.

"I _do_ want to stay, I just…I can't. You have to believe me, Pazu."

"No." He shook his head firmly. "You've said that before, and I came back for you anyway, and it was a good thing I did. I won't let you go this time. Not until you tell me why you can't stay."

Sheeta's tears began brimming over, and there was no longer anything she could do to stop them. But he was right. He had saved her life, several times. If she was going to leave him, for what could be a very long time, then he deserved to know why. She pressed her fingertips to her mouth as she looked at him sadly. "Because…" she said. "Because…you'll be in danger if I stay."

"What do you mean?" he asked, tilting his head again. "The pirates are our friends now, and Muska is gone for good. No one is after you anymore! And even if they were, that's definitely not a reason for you and I to be apart."

She shook her head. "No, no one's after me anymore," she said. "But…Pazu…there's something I didn't tell you about the spell of destruction."

"Yes?" he pressed, when she was silent for a moment.

"I told you I must never use it."

"Yes, because it would cause ultimate death and destruction. Isn't that why you were never supposed to use it? But it only killed one person, and he was a very evil man. And besides, it didn't destroy all of Laputa. It kept the nice parts, with the garden, and the friendly robot."

"You don't understand," she sighed. "That spell comes with a curse. It's too powerful not to have consequences. Otherwise people like Muska would just use it and not care."

"Oh," Pazu said, and fell quiet for a moment. "Well…what kind of curse?"

"It brings very bad luck to anyone who uses it," Sheeta replied. "I don't know for how long. Maybe a week, maybe a year, maybe for the rest of one's life. But either way, that's why I have to leave you. If you're around me…then you'll share in my bad luck."

To Sheeta's utter surprise, Pazu began to laugh and laugh. "But, Sheeta!" he cried. "Don't you remember? I used that spell, too! So I'll be sharing in your curse whether you're around or not!"

"Oh!" Sheeta had forgotten that, and after crying for a moment, she began to laugh too.

"So you see?" Pazu said happily. "You can stay here! I'm sure the boss or his wife will give you a job, and we can build you a little house next to mine, since mine kind of needs repairs anyway. We'll get through our curse together!"

"Oh, but what if we have to watch each other suffer?" Sheeta asked hesitantly. "I couldn't bear that."

"I do not fear bad luck," Pazu scoffed.

"Don't you?"

"Of course not! All you have to do is laugh it in the face, and make sure you're always smarter than it! And if we're together, we can overcome anything! Don't you agree?"

And suddenly, Sheeta did agree. She looked into Pazu's confident, smiling face and she didn't doubt that if anyone could make the most of bad luck, it was him.

"So, will you stay?" Pazu asked hopefully, reaching out his hand to her.

Sheeta knew she couldn't resist him any longer. And she didn't even try. "Yes, Pazu," she smiled, putting her hand in his. "Yes, I will stay."


	15. 16 Tangled

**A/N: I feel like I may be cheating a bit with this one. I don't consider Tangled a fandom, even though it is a franchise that contains a Disney Princess and has its own movie and TV show.**

 **But I'm starting to get desperate for anything that vaguely counts as a fandom now, so that's why this story exists.**

 **Ch. 16—The Fires of Love**

When Iris was born, Flynn Rider felt something he could have never imagined feeling. It took a bit of time to get used to—let alone fall in love with—Rapunzel. But when he held his daughter for the first time, there was absolutely no hesitation. He loved her immediately, devotedly, and unconditionally. Iris's hair was black, so black that it looked blue in some lighting. Flynn noticed delightedly that she had the same big green eyes as her mother, and that nose was one he knew very well.

"Look at that!" he cried triumphantly, pointing it out to Rapunzel. " _Someone_ finally got my nose right!"

Flynn wondered sometimes whether it was possible to love something too much. He worried that if his flame burned too brightly for too long, then it would suddenly die down one day, never to return to its former glory. Rapunzel had just laughed at him when he mentioned this fear. No, she assured him. He would never stop loving his little girl as much and as fully as he did in those first few years of her life.

Flynn took delight in everything. Rapunzel had always been the one marveling over the tiniest things, while Flynn would just roll his eyes cynically and smile at her with affection. But now it seemed that the tides had turned, and Flynn would coo over every noise or action she made, and call for Rapunzel if she did anything new. But while Rapunzel was just as much in love with Iris as Flynn was, she had seen all this before. She had played with so many children and babies in her kingdom that she knew what to expect. That didn't make it any less exciting when she saw it for the first time in her own baby, but it just wasn't as unfamiliar to her as it was to Flynn, who hadn't been near a child since he was one himself.

"It's good you're enjoying her so much now," Rapunzel said. "Because one of the things mothers kept telling me was you look away for one second, and then they're living their lives and all that time you had with them is gone."

She had said it to him in a teasing way, but Flynn had suddenly remembered that that was exactly what had happened to his wife. She had been stolen away as a child and her parents hadn't seen her again until she turned eighteen. He was not about to let that happen to his beautiful little girl. He took to sleeping in her room for a couple of months until the paranoia had worn off, but he never stopped spending absolutely every second of time he could with her.

By the time Iris turned five years old, she was the most delightful little girl in the kingdom. She loved her parents fiercely, and she had friends all over the town that sometimes Rapunzel and Flynn didn't even know about. The entire town loved her as well, and no one had to worry about her wandering around by herself, because there would always be somebody nearby who would keep an eye on her. But this was the age when she had to start taking lessons and learning her princess duties. Rapunzel and Flynn both hated the idea of clipping her wings in any way, so they had a hand in her schedule to make sure she had plenty of time to run around outside and still be a child. But Rapunzel also knew that learning how to be a princess would be easier at a younger age, learning as you went, rather than having it all dumped on you once your childhood days were over. She had first-hand experience with that.

This meant that Flynn saw less of her every day, but he learned to accept that. And even as the years passed and he saw less and less of her every time her birthday rolled around, it happened so gradually that he barely noticed. He still saw her a lot of the time. He still had a great relationship with her.

At least that's what he thought.

He couldn't exactly pinpoint the year it happened, but it was around the time of her sixteen birthday that he noticed a change. He noticed that grew more reserved. She was always busy every time he suggested they spend time together. She never wanted to look up at him when he spoke to her.

When Flynn noticed this, he thought his world might fall apart. He was very careful not to let it, however, and instead told himself the usual things. She was a teenager now. She was going through a phase. She was figuring things out, and she must be forgiven if she didn't want people around her to see the mess she thought she was.

But that wasn't enough for Flynn to let things be. She would have dinner with them, at least. Then afterwards he would bring it up with Rapunzel.

Iris came to the table with her blue-black hair falling in front of her face, but she greeted and smiled at both parents politely, the way she always did. She didn't say a word after that, until Rapunzel asked, "So, how was your hunting lesson?"

And then Iris looked up with shining green eyes. "Oh my gosh, Mom, it was amazing! I actually thought I'd hate it, and I do hate the killing animals part. But I think people like hunting just for the thrill of the chase…and riding on horseback…and letting your hawk soar through the air. I think we should just do that and not have to worry about bringing anything back."

"That's exactly what I think," Rapunzel agreed, grinning at her daughter. "Do you think the men would notice if we replaced all their game with something else?"

"Like what, like…we made a fake pig out of pudding?"

"Or a roast turkey out of peanuts?"

Both were laughing now, and Flynn stared in disbelief. He decided to give it a try.

"Did you ever figure out why that one boy kept throwing chestnuts at your window?"

Iris tossed her hair and looked down. "Apparently his mother wanted to know if I could babysit sometime."

Rapunzel laughed. "Well, what did you say?"

"Well," Iris smiled. "I asked how many children there were, and she said twelve, so I apologized, but declined."

"Good call," Rapunzel said, still laughing.

Now Flynn was very upset. He did talk to Rapunzel about it, but Rapunzel didn't seem too worried. "It's just a phase," she said. "Maybe she's working up the courage to tell you something."

But it didn't get better. If anything, it got worse. Iris would now actively avoid her father, and would only speak to him if someone else was present. Flynn kept waiting for Rapunzel to get the same kind of rejection, but no, Iris and Rapunzel still got along incredibly, laughing, talking, and confiding in each other.

Flynn suffered almost an entire year through this behavior, until he again turned distraught to Rapunzel.

"She hates me," he moaned.

"She could never hate you, Eugene, you're just overreacting," Rapunzel said. "Just talk to her."

Flynn wanted to. He wanted too desperately. But she was a slippery little thing, and always managed to either run away or find an excuse or be with someone else.

Finally, he had to bust out his old thieving moves, and sneak up on her when she was reading in a tree. He made it all the way up to her branch, but then she caught sight of him and started climbing down.

"Iris, wait!" Flynn called, grabbing her wrist.

She looked up at him with almost frightened eyes, and he immediately let go. "Iris, please. I just want to know…why you're running away from me. Why you're upset with me. Please just tell me."

She stared at him for a second, and then slowly climbed back up on the branch. "I'm not upset with you," were the first words that left her mouth.

"Yes you are," Flynn insisted. "And I hate that. I hate that we aren't as close as we used to be, so come on. Just tell me and I promise…I promise I'll leave you alone," he finished in a rush.

Iris slowly closed her book and stared off into the distance for a while. That gave Flynn enough time to dream up everything she could possibly say next, and for him to formulate a response to every single one.

"I'm afraid of getting too attached to you," she finally said quietly, which threw Flynn completely off course. That hadn't factored into his list. In fact, he wasn't even sure he'd heard her properly.

"What?" he finally asked.

She turned to him, letting her hair fall in front of her face. "You don't go by 'Flynn Rider' anymore," she said. "But I know that's who you were. And I know what you did. Everyone here does, at least everyone older than me. They've told me things about you."

Flynn blinked. "You're afraid I'm going to become a thief again?" he asked. "Sweetheart, why would I ever have any reason to do that?"

"I'm not afraid of that, exactly," she whispered. "I'm afraid because you were a ladies' man. Because you only knew my mother for a day before deciding you loved her. Because you used to run away from your problems, and if one lifestyle didn't suit you, you'd drop it for a different one."

Flynn legitimately couldn't remember the last time he'd cried, but he was getting dangerously close to doing so now. "Iris…"

She shook her head and sat up straight. "I know," she said. "I know you haven't done that in a while, and I know you love Mom and I." But there have been other stories…of fathers who leave and don't come back. I didn't believe such a thing could happen the first time I was told. But then I was told that by more and more people. It's an uncommon thing, but a thing that absolutely ruins lives. I just…don't want to get too attached to you. In case the day ever comes that you…"

She was cut off by Flynn grabbing her and hugging her. "I'm not like those fathers," he said firmly. "I will _never_ be like those fathers, Iris, do you hear me?" He could hear her sobbing into his chest as he continued, "I couldn't be if I wanted to. I love you and your mother more than anything else in the world, and I wouldn't make it a day without you."

He didn't know what else he could say to convince her, but he was determined to be a better friend to her from here on out. He just hoped she would let him.

He let her cry into him until she was finished, and then she sat up and looked as composed as before.

"Do you believe me?" he finally ventured.

"I don't know," she said. "I want to. I've never wanted to believe that my father could do something like that, but I've…spent so long preparing just in case the day came that I…"

"Will you let me try to prove it to you?" he asked eagerly.

He had to wait a long time, but she finally gave a very slow nod, and he breathed out a sigh of relief. She then started climbing down the tree again, and this time, he followed her.

"Besides," he called down. "Everyone knows my name is Eugene Fitzherbert now. I couldn't get along very well with _that_ name, could I?"

And the laugh that sounded in his ears at that was the sweetest music he'd ever known.


	16. 17 Star Wars

**A/N: I know everyone had mixed feelings on the latest Star Wars movie, and so did I, but one thing I clearly know I loved was the Reylo relationship. I don't know if I want them to be a couple or related, as is probably evident by this fanfic. But whatever the outcome, I cannot wait to see how their story ends.**

 **Ch. 17—The Saga Continues**

Rey wandered to the front of the Millenium Falcon, where Chewbacca was sitting in the pilot's seat. He looked up at her and smiled, then stood up and gestured to it.

She smiled back. "Thanks, Chewie," she said, and he gave her a nod and slipped back to join the rest of the group.

Rey slid into the seat and began pressing various buttons, but then she looked up and froze.

She was staring into the face of Kylo Ren.

It only took her a moment to get rid of the startled look on her face and replace it with an annoyed one, even if she still felt startled on the inside. And also frustrated because she knew he'd be able to tell.

"I thought we were over this," she said, trying to make her voice sound annoyed as well.

"With what?" he asked softly. Why was he never as bothered about this as she was? Even the first several times when neither of them had known what was going on, he didn't look irritated or scared, he merely looked…intrigued. Now he had that mixed with that lost look in his eyes she'd seen as she flew away from Crait.

But she couldn't let that distract her. "With this, with talking to each other when we're not really here."

"Well, how else would we talk to each other? I would wager you don't want to come back here, and I certainly can't show my face there."

The frustration in Rey was rising. "Why do we have to talk at all?" she asked. "Why can't you just let this go, Ben?"

"I liked this better," he said softly. "I liked talking to a person that wasn't there. It makes the stakes feel less real, you know?"

Rey didn't know. "What?" she snapped.

"Well, we were getting along," he admitted. "Before. We weren't fighting, we were understanding each other. Once you came in person, then it all became real. Then I had to arrest you, for fear of what you'd do to me if I didn't. And then it all became about choosing a side, and…and any trust we had in each other was destroyed."

Rey blinked. "It was always about choosing a side, Ben," she said, even though she wasn't sure why she was allowing herself to continue the conversation. "When we were talking before, I was just holding out hope that you'd choose the right one."

"That's what you took away from that?" he asked in surprise. "To me it just showed me that choosing a side is futile, and unnecessary. Why can't people just live their lives how they want? Why does there have to be a right and a wrong?"

"Because there just does, Ben," Rey sighed in exasperation. "That is what the world was founded on."

He'd glanced away, but now he turned back and looked her straight in the eyes. "Tell me why," he said. "Explain it to me. I want to know. I'm so tired, Rey. I'm tired of fighting, of chasing, of destroying, of keeping up appearances. If there's a better way, I wish I knew what it was."

Rey told herself not to. Even though Ben had initiated this visit, she knew she had the power to end it, and he probably was waiting for it to happen. She told herself this gentleness, this apparent changing of the heart was what had led her into his trap last time. She was not going to fall for those lost puppy-dog eyes again; she would not be swayed into believing there was hope for him.

And yet…there _was_ hope for him. She'd always known that. Even Luke had doubted, at the end, and maybe he was right, but Rey just couldn't believe that. Ben could change. He just needed a little more help, and who would give it to him besides her?

But not right now. "Ben," she said. "I'm literally flying a ship right now, with an entire rebellion on it." It did cross her mind that maybe she shouldn't have betrayed that information, but she was pretty sure he already knew. "I can't do this now. I can't just have a philosophical chat with you right now. Especially since if anyone walks in either they'll see me talking to myself, or they'll see you and freak out."

"They won't see me," he promised. "Only those with the Force can and there's no one on your ship who…" he stopped as he remembered his mother. "Never mind," he said. "You're right, you shouldn't be caught now. But…later? Tonight, after you've landed, and can slip away?"

"Seriously?" she cried. "You actually want to do this again?"

He didn't say anything for a long time, and he didn't look at her either. Rey wanted to end it, but she couldn't by now. She was too curious to see what he'd say.

Finally he looked back. "I lied about your parents, Rey," he said softly. "I truly have no idea who they are, or why they left you, or if they're dead or alive."

Unsummoned tears sprang into Rey's eyes.

"I can't see them," he said. "I can't see anything about you. You're cloaked, you're hidden in darkness, you're as good at keeping me out of your thoughts as you were when we met."

"Then why did you tell me that?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"I wanted you to let go of whatever you were holding onto," he said. "If you thought there were loving parents still out there, you would have kept waiting for them. You wouldn't have come with me."

"I didn't anyway."

"Yes, well, that's why I decided to tell you the truth now."

Well, he was certainly clever, and he was certainly getting his wish. Because Rey had no idea if he'd been lying then, or he'd been lying now, as was clearly his intent. But he'd lied to her one of the times, and she was going to have to get to know him some more to figure out which of the times was when he'd been untruthful.

"But," he continued slowly. "I do know we're connected. Somehow."

"You've said that before."

"Yes, and I was hoping you felt the same thing. Can you not, Rey? Is your mind not screaming at you that our fates have been entwined, and always will be? There's something about our pasts that link us together, and I cannot just let you fly away without trying to see where that link is."

"What kind of link are you talking about?"

"I have no idea," he admitted. "It could be any number of things. But you are someone important in my life. Maybe you're the girl who kills me or maybe you're my twin sister, or both, but I intend to find out, Rey. I have to find out."

She felt herself giving a little smirk. "What happened to letting the past die?"

"You're not just in my past," he said. "You're my future. For better or worse."

"You flirting with me now, Ben?" she couldn't help asking. Why, _why_ had she asked that?

He looked surprised, and then gave a tiny smile. "Flirting? No, that never crossed my mind, though I suppose that could be it."

"Yeah, I doubt that," she said. She sighed. "But fine. Once we land and everyone gets settled in, then I am willing to continue this conversation. Bearing in mind that you still will be unable to see my surroundings."

His face broke into a real smile. "As you wish," he said, and then disappeared.

And even though he was gone, Rey ducked her head down to hide the smile appearing on her face as well.


	17. 18 Spider-manMCU

**A/N: Okay, so I'm cheating again with this one, since I already have a story sent in the MCU fandom. But let's just pretend, for today, that we're back in those dark times before the Spiderman universe was also set in the same universe as Thor. Today, Spiderman is its own fandom. That just happens to have Tony Stark, and Tom Holland's portrayal.**

 **Ch. 18—Sweet Sixteen**

I was idly sitting on a rooftop, texting Happy my reports for the day. All has been pretty quiet since I took down the Vulture, on both my end and Tony Stark's. Neither he nor Happy really contacted me anymore, but they had no reason to, and I was just content knowing they did at least see what I sent them, and were keeping an eye on me, but also letting me do my own thing. Even though I'd been so ready to take down my first real baddie, it had also hurt a lot more than I expected. Not just physically, but I knew it hurt the girl I liked most, and she had to walk out of my life because of it. So even though it was satisfying and I knew I'd do it again tomorrow if I had to, I was also secretly relieved that I'd fallen back into my "friendly neighborhood Spider-man" ways.

It was still going to be light for a little while longer, but I could already tell that the sun was getting ready to set. However, Aunt May said I could stay out a little later tonight. We'd just have dinner whenever I got back. So I stood up and began surveying the city. My city. The Avengers might come out when things got really serious, but I was gonna be there for all those little problems that no one else could be bothered with. I used to hate that. But lately I've realized that those little problems are pretty monumental for those living with them. I knew old ladies were absolutely devastated if they thought their cat was never going to come out of the tree, and if Aunt May had saved up enough to get me a bike, I know I'd be crushed if anyone stole it from me. So I knew I was as good as an Avenger to those people, and that made my job even more meaningful.

I stuck my hand out and shot a web that latched on the next building. I jumped off my current one and began flying through the air. And if I sometimes thought this was cooler than finding lost dogs, can you really blame me?

After swinging through the streets in this way for a few minutes, I landed on another rooftop and began surveying the city again. Sometimes, there was no crime happening that I could spot. Sometimes I just made my rounds and went home. And that was all right, too.

I was about to shoot off another web when I heard a noise behind me, and turned to see Iron Man landing next to me. I wasn't really able to react. I had so many emotions rush through me—surprise, fear, excitement, and confusion—that I couldn't really do anything other than stay rooted to the spot and stare. I also wasn't sure if it was just the suit here or not, but before I could even open my mouth to ask, the mask slid up to reveal actual Tony Stark.

"Hey, kid," he said.

"M-Mr. Stark!" I stammered. "What...what are you doing here? Am I in trouble? I promise I haven't done anything wrong, I—"

"Woah, calm down, I just was in the neighborhood and thought I'd take a trip around town with you," he said. "That cool?"

"Yeah!" The word left my mouth before I could think about it, so I cleared my throat and tried to appear calmer. "Yeah, yeah, I mean if you want to."

He smirked, and then gestured to the open. "After you then, Mr. Parker."

I still was kind of confused as to what he was doing there. I wasn't totally convinced that nothing was wrong. My guess was that he was watching me, like a test, to see if I was measuring up to what I was supposed to be doing. That kind of scared me, but as long as I didn't do anything super dumb he really couldn't take my suit away, right?

But if that was the reason, he didn't show it. He didn't appear to be taking notes, and he didn't seem to have a problem with anything I was doing. He followed me around as I made the rest of my rounds, but the only few problems I encountered was stopping someone who'd taken a woman's purse, and helping a lost little boy find his mother. He didn't interfere in these feats, and he stayed hidden while I performed them. I didn't know if it was because he was letting me be in the spotlight or because he didn't want to draw attention to himself. I honestly couldn't decide which was more likely.

Just as I'd finished my rounds and was reluctantly about to call it quits, I saw something in an alleyway. A guy smuggling a suspicious bag of white powder to another. Nice, a drug deal, this was a little break from routine, even if it would be resolved just as easily as anything else. Stark saw it too, and nodded at me, and we both dropped down in the alleyway.

But the men were gone. I whirled around to see where they could have gone, and Stark flew up ahead to see if he could spot them, but both had vanished.

"Where'd they go?" I asked, when he returned. He shrugged, then turned and said, "F.R.I.D.A.Y., any secret doors around here?"

"Yes, sir," she said, and I assumed she was showing him where, because he turned and began pushing on a portion of a wall. It gave way and revealed a completely bare storage facility, but with some steps going down from a door that someone had clearly neglected to close. Stark and I both carefully ventured down, and when we arrived at the bottom we found that we'd stumbled into the biggest drug-producing setup I could ever have seen. So many machines, and materials, and a haze in the air that I'm sure would have affected both of us if we weren't wearing masks that filtered our oxygen. And SO many guys, all those really hench and shady looking guys too that you see in the movies. At least I didn't have to worry about the alien tech anymore, as Stark had made a point of eradicating all of that after the Vulture events. But still. This was a doozy.

And honestly, what happened after was kind of a blur. They knew who we were, of course, or at least they knew who Iron Man was, and the fact that I was with him made me a threat. They all either started trying to flee, or trying to fight us, or just ran around like chickens with their heads cut off.

And Stark and I just started fighting. It was incredible. This was my first real fight with Iron Man, and it was definitely the first time I was working with him and he wasn't there just to fix a mess that I'd made. This was just us, friends and equals, almost, who were fighting together for the same end.

And it was incredible, and I was having the absolute time of my life. I was almost sorry when it was over; when everyone was incapacitated and the police arrived, even though I think we both made the news that night.

I wouldn't know. I was not fated to watch the news that night. Because after Stark and I had left the scene and were watching the aftermath from a nearby rooftop, he suddenly said quietly, "Happy Birthday, Peter."

I turned to him in surprise. "What?" I asked.

"I thought about planning something like that to happen," Stark said thoughtfully, ignoring me. "But, I swore off illegal doings a long time ago, so I guess you just got lucky. Anyway, you'll find something more material waiting for you at home, and there'll also be a limo ready to take you and your aunt to one of the poshest restaurants in New York City."

I couldn't think of anything to say, so I didn't, even though I kept trying. He knew it was my birthday? I supposed that really shouldn't have surprised me that he had my birthday on file somewhere, but it did surprise me that he remembered it was today.

He lifted his mask, and winked at me as he clapped my shoulder. "Good job today, kid," he said, and then flew off into the night, leaving me wondering what I'd done to become the luckiest kid in America.


	18. 19 Undertale

**A/N: Well, I technically didn't cheat with this one, because I'd already planned to do an Undertale story before Deltrarune came out. Technically that was the cheat story!**

 **But yeah, I absolutely love the lore of Undertale, and while this story may be denser than the others, it was a breeze for me to write, because I love thinking about it.**

 **Ch. 19—Show Mercy**

Sans was biding his time.

The king had six human souls. He'd had them for years upon years upon years. He was really the only one who even remembered the time when he'd obtained those souls, as everyone else was too young, or hadn't even been born, at the time all those humans had fallen into the underground. All they needed was one more soul, just one more human for Asgore to fight and kill, and they'd all be free. Of course everyone now just clung onto the idea as a nice story to think about, but deep down, there were very few who actually believed that final human would come. It had been so long since that last one had fallen down.

But Sans knew something the rest of them didn't. He knew that there had been humans falling down. For at least two years now. And sometimes they'd come, and they'd befriend everyone, and the barrier would be broken and everyone could leave the Underground happy. But, without fail, every single one of those humans would betray them in the end. Because they had the power of resetting, of going back, of doing the whole thing over again. Differently. And for every friend they'd made the first time around, they exchanged for another death on their hands. They killed and they killed and they killed, getting stronger every time, and more hardened. They weren't even doing this for a purpose anymore. They would just go until they had no more worlds to conquer, and then, nine times out of ten, they would destroy whatever was left. Just completely obliterate it, until they were floating in a void of nothing.

And then what would happen? How would the world be reset?

Sans couldn't be quite sure. He wasn't even sure he believed that the world was completely obliterated after everyone was dead. But that was because he wasn't there to witness it at that point. At least he was still alive in those timelines where he watched everyone die, which meant that even though he couldn't quite remember what had happened before the reset, it was in his brain somewhere, and it always felt so familiar.

That and he had his reports to look at. He and his crew had developed a way to record everything that happened in those timelines that got erased and reset. Their lab existed outside of the loop, but it didn't exist outside of the world, so if it was true that the world got destroyed nine times out of ten, they didn't have it recorded. They only saw when they came back that there had been another child that took the genocide route.

Well, Sans had had enough. He liked kids, he liked them a lot, and he himself knew he'd rather stay in the Underground forever than have to steal even one child's soul in order to leave. So even though time and time again he greeted a new child with his jokes and his kindness, hoping this one would be different, they always gave into temptation in the end. They always had to know what would happen if they killed everyone instead of spared them. Curiosity. It was such a human thing, and Sans had grown to hate it. But he kept falling for every kid that came, because, again, he couldn't remember being betrayed, watching his brother killed, and being slaughtered himself. He only had the reports to look at, and occasionally the footage, though that was a bit much to stomach, even for him. He knew it happened, but he couldn't remember it happening, so every time that it did, he chose to give the human the benefit of the doubt. Surely not all of them were like that. Surely someday one would come who would give them all their happy ending, and then leave it like that, and wouldn't abuse their power.

But it kept happening, as and as the number of times genocide had been played rose, Sans began to grow very irritated. The next time, he decided, he would just steal the kid's soul himself. Because the human wouldn't be able to do anything if his soul was taken. Everyone else thought that the key was to kill first, and take the soul after. But humans were different. Humans had to have their souls removed first. They could survive without a soul, but they couldn't reset without it. So if you killed a soulless human, that was it, they could never come back, as Asgore had proven with the six he already had. If you killed a human with their soul still inside them, then they would always be the faster one, and they would reset before you could take their soul.

Why didn't Asgore do that? Had he forgotten how, since that last soul he'd stolen?

Regardless, Sans had decided to take matters into his own hands. He was the only one who knew what was happening, and he was sick of it. He would take this next child's soul, deliver it to the king, and then they would escape, with their timelines never again in jeopardy.

But he had to bide his time.

He knew that if he acted suspicious, then that might force the human to kill out of self-defense, and Sans wouldn't be able to come back until the timeline reset. So he did the same thing that he apparantly always did. He started with a joke. He started with kind words, and a helpful manner, and pushing the human gently in the path of his brother to give them both a good time.

But that's where the snafu happened. Because Sans knew how humans interacted with Papyrus, both when they were being good and when they were being a total psychopath.

And this one…this one that had fallen…he was actually doing it differently. He was actually taking complete joy just in hanging with Papyrus. He wasn't being a pity friend, and he wasn't being forced into it by anything Papyrus said. He just genuinely liked being around him, and laughing at his attempts to cook and be intimidating. This kid also seemed to like Sans a lot, too, as he followed him around everywhere for a while, just smiling and looking so cute and innocent.

Sans knew he couldn't let himself fall into this trap. Not again. If he let it happen just because of the doey eyes of some toddler, than he'd be stuck in this loop for eternity. He had to be strong. He had to.

He found the door to the Ruins and knocked on it, and discovered an old lady behind it who liked puns just as much as he did. He began swapping them with her for a while, and he'd go back every time he felt like he didn't know what to do. He almost confided in her, but on the day he was going to, she decided to confide in him first.

She told him that if he ever saw a human wandering around, then he must do everything he could to protect it, and watch out for it. Sans was quite taken aback. He knew that this old lady couldn't possibly have seen past the human's innocent looking face, and couldn't possibly have known the havoc he was capable of causing. But Sans hadn't expected her to make that request of him. He wondered vaguely if this happened every time, and this was just a corner of the Underground that was never observed and so never recorded. But regardless, he didn't know what to tell her. He couldn't confide in her now. He couldn't tell her what that child was _now_.

So he didn't. Instead, he promised. He said anyone who appreciates bad jokes has an integrity you can't say no to.

But he didn't know then if he would keep his promise. He didn't see how he could. He'd told himself, he'd promised himself, not to mention his team, that he would destroy the next human that came in, because they couldn't wait for that virtuous one anymore. They couldn't let their lives be controlled by the whim of a child.

But as he wandered back and saw the child laughing and playing with not only Papyrus, but Undyne now as well, he began to reconsider. Maybe…maybe this was the one. Maybe they'd finally come, just as Sans had completely lost hope. That was always how it happened, wasn't it?

He went back to his lab. He studied the reports over and over and over. He rewatched the footage of dozens of random humans who had initially befriended, dated, and hung out with Papyrus, even when there was other things they could have been doing.

He went back home, and watched this one call Papyrus because he was genuinely interested to hear what he'd say.

Yep. There was no doubt about it. This one was making Papyrus happier than he had been in a long, long time. Not only in Sans' memory of this particular timeline. But in any of the timelines. Papyrus had always gotten a kick out of being with the human, and even if he'd been killed, he'd always held out hope that the human could and would change.

But that was different than actually being this good of a friend, and this much of a delight. Sans' head began to hurt at the thought of what would happen if he was wrong. He'd have to get his happy ending taken away again. He'd have to watch everyone die _again_. He'd have to do this whole process over again.

But he looked at the child playing in the snow, laughing just as much as Papyrus, and suddenly everything became very clear to Sans. His brother was the most important thing in the world to him. Sans couldn't ruin his happiness by taking this child away from him. Maybe Sans was wrong about this one, and maybe he'd end up betraying him in the end, too. But at least Sans would have the footage next time to know not to trust the next one.

And as long as Papyrus was happy, Sans was willing to take that chance.


	19. 20 LOST

**A/N: The Penny and Desmond relationship is literally the absolute best thing in LOST, and is actually what kept me watching it, because I wasn't that impressed with Season 1 and almost quit it.**

 **But that just makes "The Constant" the best episode in the show. Especially as it also has Sayid. And Daniel Faraday. And Lapidus.**

 **Ch. 20—After the Phone Call**

When Desmond looked Sayid straight in the eyes and claimed he didn't know him, Sayid honestly didn't know if he could bear it. Sayid was a very brave and confident and intelligent person, and when he'd opted to go on the chopper back to the boat to look for answers, he didn't think anything of it.

Not until he learned Desmond was coming too, and then suddenly he realized how grateful he was to Desmond. He hadn't known Desmond as long as most of the others, of course, but he trusted him more than he did a lot of them. And he liked Desmond. He liked Desmond a lot.

So when Desmond began freaking out on the chopper, Sayid felt a wave of panic. He didn't know what had happened; Desmond had literally been talking calmly about Penny just two seconds ago, and now he was unbuckling his seatbelt and demanding to know where he was.

And Sayid was feeling terrified. Kind of a new feeling for him, or at least this intense of a feeling. He'd had this kind of fear for people before, but not in a long, long time. Even the initial plane crash had been less frightening. Because he hadn't known anybody on that plane, but he did know they were all in the same boat, and likely wouldn't be trying to kill each other.

He couldn't be sure the same would be true as they landed on this freighter. But he knew that at least his one and only ally was now out of commission, and Sayid was all alone. He was subject to people betraying him, or killing him, or doing who knows what to Desmond. What had they done already to him, just on the flight there? There was no doubt in Sayid's mind that the people on the freighter were responsible for Desmond's sudden bout of insanity. And now he had to figure out how to get Desmond back to normal. All by himself.

Procuring the phone from Lapidus seemed to be the first step, and Sayid did so, praying that someone on the beach would pick up.

"Hello?" came the familiar voice of Jack, and Sayid closed his eyes in relief before answering.

"Jack?" he said. "I'm on the freighter. But something's happened to Desmond."

He tried to keep the panic out of his voice as he relayed the events that had so far happened, but he wasn't sure how much he was succeeding. When Daniel Faraday said he might be able to help Desmond, Sayid began marching to the sick bay, no longer caring that he had just met this Faraday character and wasn't totally convinced that he was a friend.

Lapidus ran after him. "Woah woah, hey, where do you think you're going?"

"Faraday needs to talk to Desmond," Sayid said simply, not slowing his pace.

"You can't go in there until they tell you you can!"

"They won't," Sayid said. "Because they don't know what's wrong with him."

"Faraday tell you that?"

Sayid turned to Lapidus with a worried look, and slowly nodded.

Lapidus nodded as well. "I believe you. Both of you. All right, but I'd better go with you. They might be persuaded if I'm there."

As it turned out, they weren't very persuaded, but Sayid had absolutely no problem knocking down or holding back anyone in his path. He wasn't sure if it was working or what Faraday was saying, but he did see Desmond taking notes, and seeming to fade in and out of consciousness.

When Desmond demanded that he needed to call Penny, Sayid was sure that was just the insanity talking still, but when Desmond begged him, as a friend, to help, Sayid couldn't turn him down. That was what you were supposed to do with insane people anyway, right? Give them what they wanted, and then hopefully they'd quiet down. All Sayid wanted was an explanation of what was going on, and if this was the way to get it, then so be it.

But then as Sayid watched Minkowski die in Desmond's arms, and then saw Desmond's nose bleeding just as the dead man's had, he began to get very concerned indeed. He again hoped it couldn't show through, but he suddenly began to believe that this phone call might be as important as Desmond claimed it was. He handed Desmond the phone. "I hope she's there," he said sincerely.

Desmond looked at him. "I hope so, too."

Sayid again closed his eyes in relief when he heard Desmond softly say, "Penny?" He didn't listen to most of their conversation, but he did perk up when he heard Desmond say, "I've been on an island." Desmond remembered? Did he remember who he was now?

Sayid did listen to the rest after that, hoping for Desmond to say more on that. He heard Desmond promise Penny that he'd get back to her, and that he loved her, and then slowly he put the phone down.

"I'm sorry," Sayid finally ventured. "Power line went dead, that's all we have."

Desmond turned to him and smiled. "Thank you, Sayid," he said, holding out his hand. "It was enough."

Sayid stared into his eyes, searching for recognition. "Are you all right now?" he asked cautiously.

"Aye," Desmond answered. "I'm perfect."

"What happened to you, Desmond?" Sayid asked earnestly, but Desmond couldn't answer, as suddenly some of the crew members burst in and shoved them into a room. Clearly this was intended to be their quarters, as there was a bunk bed, but they were locked inside it with no further explanation.

Desmond promptly sat down on the bottom bunk and pulled the picture of Penny out of his pocket. He gazed at it for a long time, and Sayid wondered if he was going to say anything, but he decided not to push it further. Not today at least.

But, once Sayid had come to this conclusion, Desmond did speak.

"I don't know what happened to me," he said. "Or rather, I do know what happened. But I don't know why or how. Faraday tried to explain it to me, at least I think he did, but it wasn't making a whole lot of sense."

Sayid just looked at him, waiting for him to go on.

"Essentially my mind jumped back in time," Desmond said. He looked up at the confusion on Sayid's face. "And whenever it came back, it didn't realize that it wasn't still in the past."

"And the same thing happened to Minkowski?" Sayid asked.

Desmond nodded. "But if your mind gets that confused, then your body goes into shock. Hence the nosebleed, and the convulsion at the end. He couldn't make the jump back, at the end there, because he didn't have a…a constant."

"A what?"

"Something familiar," Desmond said slowly. "Something that mattered, something that made sense in both this timeline and that one. Faraday said that was the only thing that could keep you tethered to reality, but that I'd have to make contact with that person."

Sayid nodded, understanding slowly beginning to dawn. "And Penny was your constant."

"Aye," Desmond nodded. "Penny was—is my constant. If I hadn't been able to talk to her…or even if you'd spent just a few minutes longer fixing the phone…then I…I might not have…"

Sayid grew cold at the thought of what would have happened if he hadn't agree to help his friend. "I'm glad it worked out," he said. "I'm happy she picked up."

"So am I," Desmond said feelingly. "So am I. Thank you, Sayid. Really, thank you."

"Of course," Sayid said. "I'm just glad you're back, because two of us will be more persuasive than one. Maybe we can finally start getting the answers that both of us want."

"Maybe," Desmond agreed. "Though that might be difficult at the moment, seeing as how we're locked in this room."

"Yes, that does seem to be a problem," Sayid agreed. "But, they do have to come back for us sometime, right? We'll just wait until that happens."

Desmond was silent, running his finger over the photo. "She's looking for me," he finally murmered. "She said she's been looking for me."

Sayid smiled. "Well, good to know there's at least one person out there who hasn't given up on this island," he said.

Desmond looked up again. "I'm sorry for crashing your plane," he said.

"You did not crash our plane," Sayid said.

"But I did," Desmond insisted. "I failed to push that button that one time, and it brought your plane down."

Sayid shook his head. "First of all, I refuse to believe that. Second of all, if we were in the range of this island, which no one seems to be able to find, then we were lost anyway."

"This freighter found it," Desmond pointed out.

"Barely," Sayid said. "And they won't go any closer, and the chopper can't even fly from here to there without its passengers getting sick."

Desmond suddenly looked down at his picture. Sayid's eyes wandered down to it as well. He sighed. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm just frustrated that we're stuck here and can't do anything. But you are right, if this freighter found the island, then Penny has just as much chance of finding us, too."

"I wasn't thinking that," Desmond said. "Because I know she can find me. 'With enough money and determination you can find anybody,' she said once, and I know she will. But I fear for those people, coming this close to the island, and suffering just like everyone there suffers."

Sayid nodded slowly. "Well," he said. "If luck is on our side, as I'm inclined to hope it is at this point, then this freighter will take all of us off the island, and no more search parties will have to be sent on our behalf.

Desmond smiled. "You're right," he said. "We are here, aren't we? They haven't killed us, they probably just don't trust us yet, which is understandable. I'm sure that the worst is behind us, from this point on." 


	20. 21 Escape the Night

**A/N: Okay, so I'm writing about YouTubers again. But this is different, okay, because the characters in Escape the Night are just inspired by the YouTubers who play them, so this is still a completely fictional universe.**

 **I'm actually not really in the Escape the Night fandom, especially as I haven't even seen all the seasons, but I did see about 97% of Season 3, and the Ro and Mat brother/sister relationship kept me coming back every week. So here's what I think really happened when Ro died.**

 **Ch. 21—One Last Person to Save**

Ro has always been one of my best friends. We hit it off the moment we met. She's just so sweet and funny and pure, but she has a fire within that I think a lot of other YouTubers can't see in her. So even though they love her too, they don't get her the way I do. I've always felt like she was a little sister I have to protect, even though she's strong enough where she doesn't really need it. She's definitely the person I love collaborating with the most, even if it's usually on her channel more than mine. I wish there was more of an excuse for Ro to come on The Game Theorists, but even though I've been racking my brain for years, I usually just end up baking something fun on her channel. And if too many months go by without us seeing each other, I just get the itch to hear her laugh again.

So yeah, we've always been pretty close. That's why I was super excited when she was invited to come along to this carnival with the rest of us. I didn't know what we were letting ourselves in for, seeing how mysterious everything was, and the fact that no one had heard from Joey Graceffa in a very long time, and we literally had to perform some kind of demonic ritual in order to start our adventure. But I wasn't too scared, not at the beginning. I knew if Ro was by my side, we could get through anything.

When people started dying, however, I began to seriously start freaking out. Not for her, oddly enough. There was no doubt in my mind that she would get through the night alive. There was plenty of drama and secrets and betrayals going on in our little group of supposed friends, but everybody loved Ro. No one wanted to see her up for elimination, and even that one time when she was, she'd come out of it so much stronger and braver that I knew no one would vote for her again. And no one did. At least not that I saw. In any case, her name never got drawn again.

When I died, it was the scariest moment of my life, even though what happened afterwards was kind of a blur. But even though I was terrified, and I was legitimately fighting as hard as I could for my life, there was a tiny piece of me that was glad it wasn't her. That whether I died or Manny did in that round, at least she was safe for one more challenge. That was literally the only thing that comforted me as I took my last breath.

And then when I came back, and saw she was still there, it was the greatest feeling. I was super disoriented, and still scared because I had woken up still in the cursed town with demons going around killing everybody, but seeing her face comforted me, and grounded me, and I could focus on what my friends were telling me. She clung to me for quite a while after that, and I couldn't blame her. If dying was scary for me, it must have been just as bad for her to have to watch it happen, and now that she had me back, she wasn't going to let me go again.

I couldn't have dreamed that we'd both be put in the ring, along with Joey and Manny. And not because anyone voted for us, either. No, this was because we'd all been stupid enough to get cursed. Not that I'd call what Ro did stupid. She got cursed because she was rescuing another person. And she acted so unconcerned as well; she was just happy that she'd succeeded in her mission.

But I couldn't help wondering why I hadn't gone instead of her. I was already cursed, my fate was already sealed! Why did I let my best friend walk into the line of fire like that?

And even though I've already said I know she's strong, and she definitely proved herself to be to everyone else that night, I did absolutely fear for her in this challenge. I didn't yet know what it was, as the four of us solemnly walked towards it, but I knew she was up against three guys who'd I definitely say were the toughest in the group, and who would do absolutely anything to win. Manny was the one who defeated me. As much as I hated to say it, I knew that if I wasn't able to beat him, she wouldn't be able to either. And I had no intention of dying again, which left Joey. But Joey had already escaped death so many times, and even though our trust for him and gone up and down, I think the main reason for that was because all of us were Joey's friends. He'd picked us for that reason; he'd picked Ro for that reason. She had a very close bond with him as well, almost as close as with me. But not quite, obviously.

My mind was racing, trying to figure out a way to get her out of this. Maybe I wouldn't have to? Maybe it would be a baking competition, Ro would definitely trump us all in that. But I knew it wouldn't be that simple. Four competitors did increase her odds of winning, but it was also more people you had to beat. And after all she'd been through, I didn't know if she had the strength to even try at this point, though I knew of course she would try.

I saw the three witches in the distance, ominiously holding a knife each as they stood perfectly still. My heart sank. They would plunge those knives into the loser without a second thought, and I could have cried at the thought of my gentle best friend, who wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone a witch, having to go through that.

And then I saw it. Like a blue ray of hope, I saw a small stuffed dog lying on the side of the road. It was Ro's Blueberry, that she'd won at the beginning of the night and had thrown at a murderous clown almost immediately after. I casually walked over to it, picked it up as discreetly as I could, and thrust it at her.

"Mat, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Shh," I hissed. "Put it under your coat."

"What?"

"Just do it!"

She did, but she was looking at me in confusion.

"Look," I said. "I don't want any of us to die, but one of us has to, and I'd never forgive myself if it's you and I didn't try to save you."

"Mat…"

"The witches are gonna stab the victim, right? But if they just stab that, then you'll be fine."

She looked impressed at first, but then doubtful. "That could work, but what if they can tell that they just stabbed a stuffed animal, and not a person?"

"Just scream really loud."

"But there'll be no blood."

"Then just don't lose," I shrugged. "You're right, it's an absolute long shot, but maybe it'll only have to be a precaution, if you win the challenge. You've only gotta beat one of us."

"I'll try," she said, looking at me with fear in her eyes. "I really really will, Mat."

And I believe that she did. Like I said, she's a fighter, and I knew she was doubtful that the decoy would work, so I know she didn't give up on that alone. But, she did lose, she didn't even make it past the first stage, and she looked at me with the utmost defeat in her eyes.

"Ro," I said, making an attempt to smile. "You've been the best friend I could ask for."

She gave a sad laugh. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too, Ro," I said, desperately fighting tears. "I'll miss you."

I did see her subtly place a hand on her stomach and look at me as she was hauled away, but at that point she could barely stand, and offered no resistance as she was placed on the sacrificial table. That stuffed animal was now her only chance. She was completely exhausted, and could do nothing on her own anymore. I did hope she'd remember to scream, but I suddenly realized that she was right about the blood. The witches would definitely notice the absence of it. And they'd killed people before, surely they'd know the difference between stabbing a person and stabbing a cushion. But I was glad I'd tried. "Be brave, Ro!" I cried. "It's okay!" And as I was hustled onto the next chapter of our journey, I could only pray that it had worked. I had absolutely no way of knowing.

Not until the game was over, and Joey and Nikita and I were walking happily towards the exit. It had been a blur, and I'd almost forgotten that I had yet to find out if my friend was still alive.

"I'm gonna miss Manny," Nikita said.

"I'm gonna miss Ro," I answered, but I said it pretty breezily, because I still had hope. A small ray, a very small ray, but…"

Joey stopped suddenly, and said there was one thing he had left to do, so Nikita and I left without him, and eventually she and I parted ways as well.

I began walking back towards my car, when I suddenly stopped and squinted. I wasn't imagining it, was I? A tiny blur, all green and yellow…

"RO!" I screamed, and raced towards my car with a speed I didn't know I had.

"Mat!" she laughed, throwing her arms around me as I picked her up and swung her around. She had tears on her face and she looked completely exhausted, but she was here, she was alive, and she was still laughing heartily.

"Ro," I murmered, burying my face in her shoulder as I still held her up. "Ro, I was so worried…"

"It's okay Mat, I'm here, your plan worked," she said. "Well, not quite, but it did buy me time. It took them a minute to realize they hadn't actually killed me, and they were getting ready to stab me again when I guess you cleaned the artifact, and they disappeared. Then I just came over here…to wait for you." She looked up at him with shining eyes. "I just had to hope you'd be okay, too."

I smiled as big as a smile as my face would allow. "Come on, Ro," I said, opening the car door for her. "Let's go home."


	21. 22 Wizards of Waverly Place

**A/N: It's kinda surprising to me that Wizards of Waverly Place was actually a Disney Channel show. It seemed to good to be on Disney Channel. Of course, I don't know of anything better it could be on, so there we go.**

 **I love really close brother-sister relationships, and Justin and Alex is definitely in my top five that is portrayed on a screen. Which is how it became such a huge fandom of mine.**

 **Ch. 22—Justin's Wedding**

"You may kiss the bride."

Justin leaned in with the biggest grin on his face and Juliet met him with an equally big grin on hers. Cheers and shouts were heard from the congregation, including a very loud call from one Alex Russo, who was saying, "Yeah, Justin, better kiss her now, you now she's too cool to stick around!"

The bride and groom just laughed, but Harper slapped her best friends arm and cried in a shocked voice, "Alex! Not now!"

"Oh please, he's a big boy now, he can handle it," Alex scoffed.

"I know _he_ can, but I'm scared for all the other people here who don't get the…special relationship you have with your brother."

"So what? It's not _their_ wedding day!"

It wasn't the first time Alex had teased her brother about the wedding. She'd teased him when he came home announcing that Juliet had accepted his proposal. She'd teased him when he was getting fitted for his suit. She'd teased him the night before when he'd come to her apartment simply because all the planners and florists and caterers hanging around the sandwich shop were making him anxious. She'd teased him that morning when he'd dragged his entire family out the door, claiming that they were going to be late, and they were the first ones there.

Alex didn't tease Juliet, though. She liked Juliet, and always had. She suspected Juliet liked her a lot too, because come on, what's not to love, but she didn't think Juliet respected her very much. That was until Juliet had started asking Alex's opinion on all her wedding decisions. She seemed very sure of what she was doing, and always made the final decision, but Alex was extremely flattered that Juliet asked what she thought for every single aspect. Alex wanted to tease her, she really did, because it felt almost strange to get along with someone this much without making fun of them, but Juliet had just always been a person who was too smart to get teased, and too nice for one to want to tease.

But now that they were together, Alex had no problem embarrassing them just as much as she possibly could. She knew that anyone who would be shocked or offended didn't matter, and Justin and Juliet knew that too.

The reception was where she was the worst. She went up to them when they were standing alone, and grabbed Juliet's hands. "I am so sorry that my brother peer pressured you into doing this," she said. "Do you need me to make a clone so you can escape? I can make a pretty convincing clone."

Juliet laughed. "I'm good, thanks. I think it'll be cool to have a sister, you know. I've never had one."

That made Alex back off for a bit, but she was back when Justin refused a second slice of cake. "You know you don't have to impress anyone anymore," she said loudly. "And you don't need to fit into that suit after today."

There was appreciative laughter all around, and Justin turned red, but he retaliated with, "Well if you feel that way, you can eat it then!" And shoved the cake in her face. She gasped, and reached for her wand, but then remembered that not everyone present was magical, and so instead took a big fistful of cake and threw it at him.

"Hey, hey, watch the suit!" He cried.

"I told you, you won't need it after today!"

"I'll need it to attend your funeral!" he said, laughing maniacally as he began chasing her around all the tables. There was some laughter, and some shocked gasping, but Justin and Alex paid them no mind until they literally bumped into their parents, who were giving them disapproving looks.

"Really, you two?" Teresa sighed. "I can't believe you're old enough to get married and I still have to ask you to behave."

"I know, you'd have thought they'd have gained some concept of maturity by now," Jerry added.

"Ma—machure—matarity?" Alex asked in mock confusion.

"Yeah, she'll never learn," Justin said, shaking his head.

"Sweetheart, you've got frosting on your tie," Teresa pointed out.

Alex did calm down a bit after that, though she did make sure to obnoxiously cheer Justin and Juliet on during the first dance. Well, not quite the first dance. Harper quite literally stood with her hand covering Alex's mouth during the first dance, and Alex didn't resist. When the music ended and people began clapping, Harper let go.

"Did Justin pay you to do that?" Alex asked bitterly.

"They both did, actually," Harper said. "Separately. I always knew being your friend would have financial benefits."

But no one stopped Alex after that, and she whooped and cheered for the next three dances.

It wasn't until after the seventh one, which Justin and Juliet had decided to sit out, that Justin missed his sister. "Hey, have you seen Alex?" he asked his bride.

She shook her head. "Not since she tried to get us to do the Chicken Dance so she could film it."

"That's weird," Justin said. "I mean, I know she's been going at it all day, but still, I'm only gonna have one wedding day. You'd think she'd make the most of every second."

"Well, she doesn't think it'll be the only one," Juliet said with a smirk.

"Yeah, well she's wrong," Justin said, smiling fondly at her. "But still, it is Alex, and I should probably go check and make sure she isn't in any trouble."

"Obviously. It's Alex, you know she's in some kind of trouble."

Justin didn't say anything more, but simply got up and started looking around. He thought about asking who had seen Alex last, but somehow couldn't bring himself to do so. She was probably fine, he didn't have to know where she was every minute, he wasn't her babysitter. But after scouring the entire reception hall and coming up empty, he slid outside and hid behind a planter. He pulled out his wand and whispered a location spell.

The coat closet was not where he expected to be led. He threw open the door, and saw his sister curled up, who had instantly jerked her head up with a startled gasp.

"Dude, can't you knock?" she asked furiously.

"It's a coat closet," he said slowly. "I didn't know that was necessary."

She scoffed. "Shows how much you know. A coat closet is where everything exciting happens in the movies."

"Is that why you're crying in one?"

She rubbed her hand across her face. "I'm not crying."

He stepped in, closed the door behind him, and set his wand up so that its tip illuminated the room. "Okay, Alex, what's going on?'

"Nothing, just leave me alone," she huffed.

"Yeah, never in our lives has that worked, and it's not about to start now."

"Yes it is," she muttered. "Because you're married now."

Justin opened his mouth, and then what she said fully hit him, and he closed it and began blinking instead. "Because what?"

"Nothing."

"Alex, are you…are you crying because I got married?"

"No!" she snapped. "Of course not, that would be a stupid reason! It would be stupid to think that I'm gonna miss having you around, and I'll always have to share you with her now, and pretty soon you'll have your own bratty kids running around, and then I'll have to share you with them, too! It would be stupid to think that this is the end of an era, and that you actually went and grew up, and someday that's going to happen to me too, and why can't we all just go back to being kids living in the same house where we couldn't stand each other?"

She broke down and began crying heartily, and Justin immediately sat down with her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him. She gratefully leaned her head on his shoulder, and he let her cry for several minutes, rubbing her back and shushing her gently. When she'd stopped, she didn't move, but just buried her face deeper into his shoulder.

"You know we do still work together, right?" Justin finally said.

There was a pause. "Shut up," Alex finally said in a muffled voice, shoving him as best she could with both arms trapped under his. "We're having a moment."

Justin laughed. "Well, it's true. And you were the one to move out of the house first. How do you think I felt when you did that?"

"I dunno."

"Yes, you do," Justin said. "Don't worry, there's no one around, we can say cheesy things right now. You missed me just as much as I missed you."

"Yeah, but that was different, because I always knew I could come back if I wanted to."

"Wow," Justin said. "Way to only think about yourself. I almost went insane with boredom when you left."

"Yeah, I know. As I recall, you said I made your life complete."

"Aaand you ruined it," Justin said, immediately taking his arms away.

She laughed and sat up. "Hey, you were the one who said we could say cheesy stuff to each other here."

"Yeah, well that's not what I said then, and I won't have you still thinking that's what I said."

"Okay," Alex said. And then, after a moment, "…But that is what you said."

"Whatever," Justin replied. "But as for sharing me with Juliet—that's nothing new. I loved her the moment I met her, and you've been friends with her for just as long. You guys get along incredibly, and she's been a part of our lives ever since high school. Where's the new and unfamiliar in that?"

"Because now you _have_ to be with her all the time, it's like a _requirement_."

"No it isn't, and do you think either she or I would even want that?"

"I don't know, I've never been married before!"

"Well, neither have I," Justin said. "But I'm not leaving you, Alex. I'll never leave your life completely, you do know that, right?"

She looked down, letting her hair fall in front of her face. "You better not, you jerk."

"I won't," Justin said, brushing the hair out of her face before standing up. "But, we'd better get back now. Or me at least. You they might forget about, but I'm too important to forget about."

She grinned. "Shut up!" she cried, standing up so she could slap him.

"Love you, Alex," he said sweetly, as he opened the door.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, following him out. "Love you too, Justin."


	22. 23 Harry Potter

**A/N: Welp, Harry Potter makes the last in a frighteningly long list of fandoms I'm not really in, but chose to write about this month anyway. I do like Harry Potter just fine, but, I don't know, I didn't get as into it as everyone else. That said, I know I love Draco Malfoy to pieces and would do anything to make his life better. Even if all that is is writing a fanfic giving him a happy memory.**

 **Ch. 23—The Lone Wolf**

Year 5 was a pretty difficult one for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but to be honest, they were always difficult. This one, actually, seemed to be going the best. Because this was the year they were finally doing something. They had a group of people who were willing to find against Voldemort, if need be, and yes, Professor Umbridge had most of Hogwarts under her thumb and she was constantly meddling and restricting, but that just made Dumbledore's army that much more exciting to be a part of.

So, for once, Harry and Ron were having their dinner in a pretty good mood. They were both feeling great, and feeling even better because the other one was feeling great. They were laughing with their mouths full, and honestly were making a disgusting mess, which Hermione really should have noticed and put a stop to.

But Hermione wasn't paying attention to them. She was sitting and staring at the Slytherin table, which was something she usually wasn't in a position to do, either because she had her back to them or because she was reading a book.

But neither was the case today, and she was looking very intently at a certain white-haired boy. Since when had his hair become white? It used to be so blonde, like his parents'. Had it just paled? Could that be possible? She very much doubted that he dyed it, for various reasons. Or had something spooked him so badly that his hair literally went white? Her heart almost bled at the thought of that, which scared her even more than the changing of his hair color. Was she feeling pity for Draco Malfoy?

"Hermioneeeee," Ron said, waving his head in front of her face. "Hey! Hermione!" he snapped his fingers, and she snapped back to reality.

"Well, what?" she asked in an annoyed tone.

"I said, do you think a screech or a chirping would be a more appropriate sound effect?"

Hermione just stared at him. "Sorry?"

"Never mind, Ron, she wasn't listening," Harry giggled. "Fortunately for her, probably."

"What were you looking at, anyway?" Ron asked, turning around. He followed her line of vision and scrunched up his nose. "Ugh, why would you waste your time, Hermione?"

"Have either of you noticed that Draco's been kind of off lately?" Hermione asked.

"He's a Malfoy, he's always been off," Ron said, shoveling another forkful of food into his mouth.

"Oh, shut up, Ron," Hermione said. "I mean it. Harry, what do you think?"

Harry gave an apologetic shrug. "I…haven't really noticed."

"Well, notice now," Hermione said. "Look at him. Does he look…sadder than usual?"

All three looked, but for just a second too long, because he caught their glare and scowled at them, and they hastily looked away.

"He looks pretty normal to me," Harry said.

"Yeah, me too," Ron said. "Seriously, Hermione, he always looks that miserable."

"Yeah, I can't imagine his life is that easy," Harry said. "And he's working for Umbridge. That's got to cause him all kinds of misery just in itself."

Both boys giggled, and Hermione stood up angrily. "Well _I_ think he looks sadder than usual, and I think you two are horrid for laughing at him," she said haughtily, and marched off.

Ron and Harry looked at each other. "What do you suppose that was all about?" Harry asked.

"Beats me," Ron said. "Harry, she does know we've been mortal enemies since first year, right? And that he called her a mudblood and she punched him in the face and he's only ever been trouble for you?"

"I mean yeah, I do remember her being there for all of that," Harry said. "I wonder why she's sympathetic towards him now."

Hermione had no idea why she was suddenly sympathetic towards him, either. Not that she had any plans to actually go up to him and ask him why he was so upset, of course, and if he met her in the halls she would likely give a smart remark and walk by with her nose in the air. But it still bothered her to see another person so unusually unhappy, even a person as terrible as Draco. He was still a child, after all. He'd been through all the same struggles as the rest of them at Hogwarts, and a good deal more, like as not.

But when she discovered later during an exam that she was still thinking about it, it alarmed her, and she immediately put it out of her mind so as not to distract her during a very important exam. And she didn't think of it again, until about two days later, when she was on her way to see Hagrid about something, and she met him sitting alone on a hill. Crying.

She stood there for a good twenty seconds, taking a step forward, and then back, and opening her mouth to speak, and then closing it again. She'd just made the decision to turn away and pretend she'd never seen him, when he turned and saw _her_ , and well, there was no pretending after that.

"What are you looking at, Granger?" he snapped.

"I'm sorry," she said, sincerely. "I didn't know you were here."

"Well now you do, so get lost."

Hermione could feel herself losing her patience. "Draco Malfoy, you have no reason to be so perfectly horrid to people," she burst out, to her own surprise. "And also I have never done anything you asked me to before, and so I'm going to stay right here, whether you like it or not." And she strode forward determinedly and sat down on the grass next to him.

He stared at her in surprise, shuffling a little bit away from her, but not leaving just yet. "What on earth do you think you're doing?"

"I'm asking you what's wrong, that's what I'm doing."

"That's none of your business."

"No, it isn't, but I'm asking you to let it be my business, because it bothers me to see other people hurting, and me not able to help them."

Draco didn't say anything for a moment, and Hermione wondered how many more times he'd ask her to leave before she did it, but then all he said was, "I hate Dementors, that's all."

Now Hermione looked surprised. "Dementors?" she asked. "But there aren't any Dementors around Hogwarts, not anymore."

"Well, Hogwarts isn't the only place I go to, now is it?" he snapped. "I'm not scared of them of course, like some friends of yours I could mention, but it is pretty terrible when they're around. And when they harm…people."

"Have any harmed you?" Hermione asked, more gently than she intended to.

He looked away and didn't answer, and Hermione said softly, "You know…there is a spell to get rid of Dementors."

He scoffed. "Yeah. A Patronus. But that's not taught at Hogwarts, and I doubt even you would have enough power to be able to summon one."

"You don't need a great deal of power," she said. "You just need a memory that's very, very dear to you."

He looked at her skeptically. "That's it?"

"That's it," she said softly. "Look, I'll show you." She stood up, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Then she cried, " _Expecto Patronum_!" and out flew an otter, racing around in circles up into the clouds until it disappeared.

Draco looked in shock. "How did you learn how to do that?"

"I make it my business to learn everything I can possibly learn," she replied. "Come on, you try."

"It won't work," Draco muttered, but he stood up as well, and shouted the same spell.

Nothing happened.

"That's all right," Hermione said. "It didn't work for me at first, either. You have to get good at it, like with every spell. Try again."

And Draco did, several more times, but came up empty every time.

"You can't be skeptical of it," Hermione said. "You have to believe you can do it. This isn't one of those spells that works on words alone. This is the most emotion-based spell out of all of them."

Draco kept trying, for a good half an hour, until both of them absolutely couldn't stay any longer. And Draco still hadn't conjured a Patronus.

"Keep trying, Draco," Hermione encouraged. "Maybe try changing the memory that you're thinking of. Sometimes the moment you think you've felt that happiest wasn't actually the correct one. But I believe in you."

He looked skeptical. "Do you?"

"Of course I do," Hermione said. "I know we have a mutual hatred for each other, but you're much smarter that you allow yourself to be. You could be a proper rival for me if you ever applied yourself. And…and I know you're a Malfoy and you're probably having dealings with You-Know-Who and for both of those reasons your life is absolute rubbish, but you're in much the same boat as I am, you know. We're in this together, Draco, whether we like it or not, and if I can learn to summon a Patronus, you can, too."

He looked at her with an expression she'd never seen before, and therefore couldn't quite identify, but she was not displeased with it. He immediately changed it into a scowl, however. "Maybe I just don't have a happy memory, ever," he said shortly. "Maybe I physically can't make a Patronus because I wasn't gifted the right materials that all your happy-go-lucky friends have. Did you ever think of that?" He didn't wait for her to reply, but turned and ran back towards the school, and Hermione was left with a sigh, and a shake of her head, as she continued on to Hagrid's.

She was, therefore, surprised that night in the Commons when Ron walked up to her with a note. "Someone slipped this under the door for you," he said.

She took it and noticed the green border on the paper, but apparantly Ron hadn't, even though he'd clearly read it. "My Patronus is a wolf," was all it said.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears that she couldn't quite explain.

"Who is it from?" Ron demanded.

Hermione slipped the card in her pocket and looked up at him. "I don't know," she said. "But, somehow, I think I may have caused the first happy memory in a lonely child's life."


	23. 24 Sherlock

**A/N: When I learned about Molly being in Sherlock, I was pretty upset, because I absolutely hate OCs in actual movies and TV shows, and I hated how she was being set up to be a love interest for Sherlock.**

 **But then…I actually really liked her. And I think the reason for that is because she is the fangirl that the show's creators must have known the show would create. I only low-key ship Sherlolly, but regardless, I do love the little moments when Sherlock actually acknowledges and appreciates her, and I wrote this just so I could have more.**

 **Ch. 24—Pick Up**

Sherlock was in a mood.

I hate it when he's in a mood. I like his normal mood just fine, because I'm so used to it, and it's the one I always associate him with, and, well, I'm still here, aren't I? Still his best friend, and his partner in crime. Or, really, I guess I'm his partner in stopping crime.

Never mind.

But today he was in a mood where he literally was devoid of all empathy, and that's just not a very productive work day when that happens. He always rejects clients if their problems seem too boring or too easy, or really even sometimes too much work. Not mental work, but if he has to go scouring train stations or talking to twelve different families just to confirm something he already knows to be true, he usually passes on those.

Which is fine, I mean we can't accept all the cases, obviously, so I'm okay with him being ultra-picky when it comes to deciding which ones to accept. He always finds one, and personally it doesn't matter to me what kind it is. I love it all, from the boring stuff to the death-defying stuff, because even the boring stuff always has an element of danger, and I always get to watch Sherlock do the deducting things somewhere along the line.

I never get tired of the deducting thing.

But whenever he does accept a case, suddenly he stops being Mr. Your-Problems-Bore-Me and becomes a knight in shining armor, willing to do everything to make sure every innocent involved stays happy and alive and sane. It's a very interesting transition, especially as you can't exactly tell that's what's happening unless you're literally with him every minute. The people that he helps can see it, and that's why they're always grateful to him, which he's never understood. And I can see it, which is why I've stuck around with him this long, another thing that I don't think he's ever quite grasped. It must be such a mystery to him why I put up with him, and honestly I would stick around just for that reason; to drive him mad with trying to figure out why.

But no, I've chosen to stick around anyway, for better or worse. And today was certainly worse, because I could already tell that not only was Sherlock refusing to hear people out, but he was refusing to even look at them, and I know that that's a key part of making his deductions. He wasn't really looking at them to decide if they were worth his time. He had really just decided, seemingly, that on that particular day he wasn't going to listen to anybody, wasn't going to help anybody, and was just going to sit there in his blue dressing gown staring at the bullet holes in the ceiling.

The only thing I was confused by was why he was bothering to see potential clients at all.

I kept hoping he would snap out of it. I kept hoping someone would walk in smelling of a poisonous drug from South Africa or something, and Sherlock would be intrigued just from that. Either that or he would just get so bored of his own thoughts racing around, as it what usually drives him to accept cases, that he would just agree to take the very next person who walked through his door.

But it was not to be. At precisely 4:32, Sherlock called, "Mrs. Hudson, bar the doors, I won't see the faces of any more imbeciles today!"

She poked her head in the room, and said, "I'm your landlady, dear, not your housekeeper."

"Mrs. Hudson, what did I literally just say about not wanting to see the faces of anymore imbeciles?"

I think there was a time where she might have been offended by that, but instead she just rolled her eyes and said, "Fine, you can get your own tea, then," before leaving to do as he asked.

"That was harsh," I said. "Even for you."

"What was?" he asked, his eyes drifting to the sofa arm as his phone started ringing.

"Who is it?" I asked, not really expecting him to pick up, as that was a rare thing even on his good days.

"Molly."

"Sherlock, you have to pick up if it's Molly."

"Why?" he asked, turning to me. "I'm in no mood for her useless prattle today."

"But you never know, it could be important."

"Nothing could be so important in Molly Hooper's life that she absolutely needs me to pick up right now."

I sighed. "Well, all I'm saying is that she picked up for you when Euros had us locked up."

"Of course she did. When I call it's always important."

"Did you ever call her back, by the way?" I asked suddenly. "Euros hung up on her pretty abruptly after she said…what she said, and if she tried to call back, we wouldn't have known. Did you ever explain to her what happened?"

"Yes, John, I told her the next day. I'm not a monster, you know."

"Well, the way you're acting today, you could fool anybody," I muttered. I stood up and stretched my legs. "Well, if you're not accepting any cases, then I'm going to go down to the office. I'll see what Molly wants, too."

"You do that," Sherlock said, picking up the remote and switching the TV on.

I sighed and got my coat. I love being a doctor, don't get me wrong, but I always hate it when I have to do that instead of something more exciting.

I did try to see Molly, but was told she hadn't come into work that day. Molly was never late, so I tried to call her, but she didn't pick up. It was probably nothing, but on the off-chance that it was, I decided to just pop round to her house and make sure everything was all right. I was bored anyway.

Everything wasn't all right. Her door was broken down, and there were signs inside of a struggle. I immediately called Sherlock, but of course he didn't pick up, and I kicked and punched the wall and shouted quite a lot of obscene words at it for exactly five seconds before I turned around and began the journey back to Baker Street.

Sherlock was still sitting there, eyes glued to the screen, and he didn't look up when I entered. Wow, today was a very bad day for him. But I didn't have time to care about that now.

"Sherlock, why can't you just answer your phone?" I demanded.

"I knew if there was anything you had to tell me, you'd just come back and do it in person."

"Sherlock, I swear…" I stopped myself. No time for that. "Sherlock, I went to Molly's house."

"So?"

"Because she wasn't at work today."

"So?"

"She wasn't there. And there were signs of a break-in."

Sherlock suddenly looked up. "What?"

"I couldn't tell if she was kidnapped or if she just ran away, but something definitely happened there."

Sherlock immediately jumped up and grabbed his coat and scarf, and flew out down the stairs and out the door without saying a word. I had to run to keep up with him, and dive into the cab as he was closing the door, or I think he would have forgotten about me.

Sherlock only needed to look around her house for a few minutes before he knew what had happened and where she had gone. She was in a house that was on the same street, and she had indeed been captured, but only because they were trying to draw Sherlock out, and they figured she'd be a good way to get to him.

They completely underestimated him, of course, and also the fact that I'd be there, and also the fact that Sherlock had called Lestrade at the moment where he knew he'd show up at exactly the right moment.

Sherlock acted calm and collected the entire time, but once the small gang of four men had been carted away, Sherlock looked at Molly, huddled in the blanket the ambulance had given her.

"Are you all right?" he asked tenderly, but was greeted with a slap across the face.

"I called you," she said. "They came and threatened to hurt me unless I got you to come. I was scared so I did, but you, you couldn't be bothered to pick up your phone when you saw it was me!"

Sherlock stared, and opened his mouth, and I think a comeback was trying to force its way out, but he simply couldn't think of one. I've only seen Sherlock speechless a couple of times in his life, but he definitely looked the most defeated this time.

"I'm sorry…" he started, but she cut him off.

"Yeah, well save it, Sherlock," she said. "It was bad enough when you were oblivious to my feelings, but now that you know about them you just trample on them and ignore me even more. You've said you were my friend, I thought you were my friend. But after this I don't think I ever want to see you again."

"Molly, please, please don't say that," he begged, and I raised my eyebrows. Sherlock, begging? Begging something from Molly? "You are my friend, Molly, you always have been, even before John came and I didn't know what a friend was or that I could have one," he said. "And yes, I…I didn't pick up my phone when I saw it was you, but it wasn't because it was you. John called me earlier and I ignored that, didn't I, John?" he asked, turning helplessly to me.

Well it wasn't as if I could deny that. "He did," I said. "He absolutely did."

She blinked back tears and shook her head. "But _why_ , Sherlock, when you expect us to pick up when it's you?"

Sherlock cleared his throat, and I raised my eyebrows again. Sherlock only did that when he was tearing up. And there were very, very few things that made him tear up.

"Molly," he said slowly. "I give you my word, my absolute promise, that from now on, I will always pick up when I see it's you."

She looked up, curious.

"I mean it," he said. "No matter how busy I am, no matter how much I hate the world, as long as I'm not being held captive or my phone isn't silent or in someone else's possession, or at the bottom of a river, or smashed because I jumped off a building, or has a bullet hole through it, or—"

She giggled. "I get it, there's a lot of scenarios in which you might not be able to answer."

"But I swear to you that if I _am_ able, and if I _do_ hear it, I will pick up with no hesitation whatsoever," he said. "Will you forgive me if I can promise you that?"

She thought for a long while, biting her lip, before looking up at him and nodding. "I guess so," she said softly, with a smile.

He smiled back. "Good," he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Now, are you going to be okay here? Would you like to come back to ours for the night?"

I thought that was a pretty cruel thing of Sherlock to offer, even though I knew that didn't even occur to him. Molly knew that too, I could tell, and I could see that she was tempted to take the offer, but she shook her head. "I'll be all right," she said. "Thanks."

He gave her another warm smile, and nodded. He stood up, turning his coat collar up, and began hailing a cab.

On the ride home, he sat on his phone the entire time, but I waited until we were halfway there to say anything. "So you do care," I said. "Despite being in a mood, you can find it in your heart to care about those who care about you. If they're in danger."

He didn't say anything, so I pressed, "What would it take for _me_ to get such a promise out of you?"

"Shut up, John," he said fiercely, and I looked out the window to hide my grin. Yeah. This kind of complication, this was why I continued to put up with him.


	24. 25 Once Upon A Time

**A/N: Oh, Once Upon a Time. What happened to you? You were the best show, you were my most intense fandom for so long, but really, what happened after Season 3? You had good moments in Season 5, and Season 6 ended well, but I couldn't even make it through five episode of Season 7.**

 **I really should go back and finish it. I've always wondered if the finale was good.**

 **Ch. 25—Growing Pains**

"Emma," Mary Margaret said, one the edge of tears, not that her daughter cared. "Emma…I promise, I'm just trying to get to know you. I missed everything about your life, and now you're a complete stranger to me. Please, please just let me in."

"Let both of us in," David pleaded, wrapping his arm around Mary Margaret's shoulders. "Emma, do you know how long we've waited for this?"

"How long?" Emma asked, whipping around. "Because the way I've heard it, you sent me away moments after being born, and then forgot I even existed immediately after that!"

"That wasn't our fault!" Mary Margaret cried. "Emma, you know everything now, you must know by now how much it killed us to do, and how much we wished there was another way, any other way!"

Emma shook her head and turned away. "That still doesn't change the fact that you missed me for, what, five minutes, in this entire 28 years? Meanwhile I felt every moment. And even if now I know you did love me, and you gave me up knowing you'd see me again, and to save an entire kingdom of innocent people…"

They nodded at her eagerly, waiting for her to finish.

"I still have 28 years worth of thinking you abandoned me because you didn't care," she huffed, standing up abruptly.

"Emma, where are you going?" Mary Margaret cried hysterically.

"Oh, stop freaking out, I'm not leaving town, I can't, anymore, as it seems," Emma shot back, violently pushing the door of Granny's as she walked out into the cool air.

Henry was waiting for her, sitting at one of the outside tables, swinging his legs. He jumped up and began following her. "What was all that about?" he asked.

"Are you skipping school right now?" she asked.

He shrugged. "The school hasn't really figured out what to do with itself since the curse got broken."

"Okay, well just because they were all peasants in that world doesn't mean they should shut down the school now," Emma said.

"Aw," Henry said. "I was kinda hoping that's exactly what would happen. Or maybe there'd be a school where we could all train to be knights or something."

"Keep dreaming, kid, but being a knight has no practical use in this world," Emma said.

"You know your parents feel super guilty for what they did, right?" Henry asked.

Emma sighed. "I know, and I feel super guilty for being mad at them," she said. "And I get it, it's not that I don't believe them or don't understand. But no amount of that can take away the pain, you know?"

Henry thought about that for a minute, and then said, "But you don't have to think about the pain. You have them back now, and they do love you and have missed you. Isn't that what you always wanted? Something you thought you could never have, because you couldn't imagine a scenario where they could possibly explain what they did?"

Emma stared at him. "You're a pretty wise kid, you know that?" she asked.

He grinned. "I know."

"I'll get over it," Emma said. "And they should know that. But all have you have just got to give me a chance to do that, all right?"

"All right," Henry agreed.

"Now get out of here," she said, affectionately grabbing his head and shoving him in the other direction.

"Where are you going?" he asked as he started to comply.

"Mr. Gold's, unfortunately, I borrowed a letter opener from him, and he'll have my head if I don't give it back."

"Good luck," Henry said, and ran off in the other direction.

Emma watched him go with a smile that instantly fell as she turned back around. She hoped talking to Henry would cheer her up, as it usually did, but it hadn't. She was still incredibly upset with her parents, and having Henry around just made her feel guilty that she'd done exactly the same thing with him. And he'd forgiven her unconditionally.

She pushed open the door to Mr. Gold's shop, intending to just drop the letter opener on his counter and leave. She barely remembered why she'd even needed that letter opener. It was for some police investigation, and she'd only wheedled it out of him by telling him it was for legal purposes, but he'd made sure that it would be returned to him or he'd sue her for abusing her power. Even though he'd been the one to get her there in the first place.

And suddenly, when she saw him, a lot of thoughts began flowing through her head that she really hadn't meant to start thinking about.

He looked up at her as she strode forward, angrily slamming the opener down.

"Good afternoon, Miss Swan," he said.

"You," she said. "You could have been looking out for me this entire time."

He gave a small laugh. "I beg your pardon?"

"You knew," she said. "I know you knew. You were awake the entire time I was here. You knew who I was from the moment you stepped foot in this world, so why couldn't you have done something, anything, just to let me know things were okay and would work out for me? In fact, why didn't you just bring me here in the first place? I landed right outside Storybrooke."

"Well it's not really like I would have been able to step outside the border and grab you."

"You have your methods of doing things," Emma said with gritted teeth. "You brought Henry here, didn't you? How'd you manage that, when he was born in Arizona?"

"Miss Swan," he said. "I can assure you that I was just as clueless with your existence as everyone else was. Until you finally came, that is."

Emma tried to wrap her head around that, but found she couldn't. "What?"

"Regina's curse was very powerful," he told her. "I couldn't just have my memories the entire time. Well, maybe I could have, but I really didn't want to suffer through 28 years of repetitiveness, knowing I could do nothing but wait."

"What do you mean until I finally came?"

"Well," he said. "That was the only part I could control. Hearing your name, saying your name, seeing you in person, I arranged it so that would trigger it."

Emma hesitated. "Meeting me that first day at the inn? That was the moment you remembered?"

"That was the moment I remembered," he said. She looked down, considering this, and he said, "And I might add, Emma, that you really can't blame your parents for what they did."

Emma looked up sharply. "And you'd be the expert on that, would you?"

"When are you going to learn that I'm the expert on everything?" he asked. "But there is a difference between abandoning someone and never giving them another thought, and abandoning them but then spending every waking second trying to get them back."

Emma paused. "And my parents fall into that second category, do they?"

"Absolutely they do," he said.

Emma squinted. "Why do you care about my relationship with my parents?"

"I don't," he said, stroking the globe on his counter. He looked up at her. "But that doesn't mean I don't care about you, dearie. I've known you since you were a tiny fetus inside Mary Margaret. I've been waiting for you and counting on you for longer than anyone else. Your savior duties aren't done, Miss Swan, and I'm very keen on seeing what your future holds."

Emma wasn't quite sure how to take that. "Thanks?" she said.

"And for what it's worth," Mr. Gold added. "I _did_ look out for you once I knew who you were. It would have been a shame to let Regina win, wouldn't it?"

"Definitely," Emma said cautiously, and then added awkwardly, "Well, see you around I guess." She left as quickly as she could, feeling his stare boring into her back. She hated never knowing if she could trust him or not.

But once she'd made it back outside, she realized he was right. And that was a weird feeling, but one that she was kind of grateful to him for, and she suddenly began aching for her parents, and so took off back to Granny's to see them.


	25. 26 Witch Mountain

**A/N: Here we are. Witch Mountain, my very first fandom. Yep. And I bet no one who ever stumbles across this story will even know what this is, but you should, because it's incredibly good.**

 **Remember when I said Alex and Justin from Wizards of Waverly Place were in my top five brother-sister relationships portrayed on a screen? Well, Tia and Tony are number one. Hands down.**

 **Ch. 26—Refuge in Witch Mountain**

Tia and Tony were not meant for separation. They didn't just have a very close sibling bond, although they certainly had that, too. But destiny literally had intended for them to remain joined at the hip for however long they lived, and wherever one went, the other was bound to follow. They'd always known that, and they'd never questioned it, because they couldn't even imagine turning around and not seeing the other standing there. They had their own activities, and their own friends, but the other one was always bound to befriend these friends as well, or eventually take up the same activity. Although everybody on Witch Mountain did share a kind of communal bond with everyone else, the Malone siblings were special, and everyone knew it. Why they were special of course was a different question. Maybe some people knew it. Maybe their Uncle Bene knew it. But the children themselves didn't, and whenever they'd question it, their uncle just told them, "Perhaps you're meant for something great. Something that will not become clear until you're much older."

They'd stopped asking after realizing this was the only answer he'd give. They were still only teenagers, and very young teenagers at that. So although it sometimes kept them up at night, and they often would spend long hours discussing their theories, they kept this to themselves, and didn't go looking for answers any longer.

And then their uncle had said it might be good for them to return to California, where they'd lived most of their life, just to refamiliarize themselves with how normal people lived. They were looking forward to the trip, even though they'd be staying with their uncle's friends and not their own. But that wasn't so bad. They'd learned a long time ago that although it was nice having other children their age as friends, they would also be each other's best friend, and they were content with that. And besides, it would be exciting trying to live like a normal teenager, if only for a week.

Neither could have possibly predicted how cruelly they'd be split apart, or that the mad scientist who kidnapped Tony would do the worst thing imaginable and pit him against his sister. Tia had been too scared and confused to cry the entire time she was looking for her brother, and of course Tony's mind hadn't been his own, so he had nothing to feel bad about until afterwards. But both seemed to have escaped without any psychological repercussions, even though it was the first time in their life they'd been apart for that long, and not only apart, but having to fight the other one. They'd greeted their uncle at the end of the week as planned, as if nothing had happened, though they did admit that they'd never actually made it to see his friends. He was confused, but didn't ask any questions until reaching home, and then they'd told him in an entirely carefree manner that yes, Tony had been drugged, kidnapped, experimented on, and commanded to kill and forget his sister, and that Tia had been left alone in L.A. the entire time trying to make everything right again.

They told him with big smiles on their faces, and Tony had his arm around Tia with her head on his shoulder, both seeming perfectly all right now. But their uncle wasn't so sure.

"I'm glad everything worked out," he said. "I only hope it didn't have any lasting effects."

"Lasting effects?" Tony asked. "Nah, it was just some device behind my ear, but it's gone now. It's broken, and even if it wasn't, it only affects a person if it's on them."

Uncle Bene didn't say anything else, but he continued to look worried. His niece and nephew weren't, however, even when they were alone in their bedroom that night. They both supposed that, someday, they'd actually have to have their own rooms, and not even ones that connected like in Mr. Bolt's house. But for now, it still felt more comfortable to have their two beds on either side of one room. After all, they were not meant for separation. Tia animatedly began talking about all the funny and endearing things the Earthquake Gang had done and said, and Tony was laughing appreciatively. Eventually their uncle called through the door that they were making too much noise, and he was calling lights out.

Tony was still giggling as he crawled into bed. "We'll go back and see them someday," he promised.

"And Jason too, right?"

"And Jason too," Tony agreed. "Goodnight, Tia."

"Goodnight, Tony," she whispered, noticing how incredibly satisfying it felt to say that once more.

She fell asleep pretty quickly, but was awoken in the middle of the night by a cry from the other bed.

She immediately sat up. "Tony?" she asked nervously.

He didn't answer, except to give another cry, and she suddenly realized he was still asleep.

"Tony!" she shouted, sliding out of bed and running over to him. She began shaking him. "Tony, wake up!"

His opened his eyes, and turned them towards her. "Tia," he whispered. "What…"

"You were crying out," she said, sitting on the edge of his bed. "What's wrong?"

He squeezed his eyes shut. "I don't know," he whispered. "I just…I guess I was…"

"What?"

He opened his brown eyes again. "I tried to kill you, Tia," he gasped. "I tried to _kill_ you, and I would have succeeded, if you weren't able to fight back. I—"

"Tony, stop," she said. "That wasn't you, and I know that wasn't you. You had no choice, and you didn't know what you were doing."

"I should have known," he gulped. "I knew who you were, that should have been enough to hold me back."

"I think it did," Tia said. "A little bit. Every time you were told to challenge me or try to hurt me, you always did it kind of halfway, like you weren't really trying. He had to really pressure you to get anything massive out of you."

He heaved himself into a sitting position. "But it's not just that," he said. "It's…what else did I do? How much harm did I cause others, how much damage did I cause to the city?"

"Absolutely none," she said firmly. "Because it wasn't you, Tony, I thought you'd accepted that!"

"I can't just accept that," he said. "And I can't get…that man's face out of my head."

"Who, the scientist guy?"

"Dr. Gannon," Tony nodded. "I'm…terrified he's going to come back. That he's going to enslave me again…Tia…you can't imagine how violating it is having your mind controlled by another person."

"I know," Tia nodded. "I mean…you're right, I can't know, but I do think that is the most evil thing someone can do to another."

"And if he did it to me, he'll do it to others," Tony said feelingly. "We didn't even put him in jail or anything."

"That's not what we do, though," Tia reminded him. "We don't deal with people the normal way when they try to exploit our powers. We turn our powers against them to show that we will always have the upper hand. And we did that we him. He won't be coming after you again, Tony. He knows now that you'll be ready, and also that I'll always be one step behind you."

Tony was quiet for a long time. Eventually he reached over and pulled his sister into him. "Thank you, Tia," he said, burying his face in her hair.

"For what?"

"You know for what, For everything. I never thanked you for saving me. For never giving up in trying to find me, even when you thought I'd abandoned you."

Tia sat back. "I never once thought you'd abandoned me," she said. "I know you'd never. And you'll know now, if you didn't before, that I'll never abandon you."

He gave her a tiny smile. "Because we're not meant for separation?"

"That's right," she said, leaning in to hug him again. "We're not meant for separation. It's always going to be Tia and Tony against the world, and not even the world can stop us."


	26. 27 Doctor Who

**A/N: Never thought I'd be one to get into Doctor Who. I don't even really know why I did or what I see in it, other than the emotional stakes that leave me a wreck after each and every episode where a companion or a doctor leaves. Or arrives.**

 **Donna Noble deserved better. That is all.**

 **Ch. 27—One Noble Day**

I am the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm nine hundred and six years old, and I don't need companions. I just like having them around. I like sharing the entire universe with someone who wouldn't get to see it otherwise, and I like watching the joy in their faces that I felt the first time I saw it all, too. But I certainly don't need them. I'm perfectly fine without them.

Sort of.

Okay, so maybe Donna leaving hit me pretty hard. Which is kind of amazing, if you think about it. I was never in a romantic relationship with her. I'd have thought that Rose would be the most difficult separation, and that's because I…well, she loved me at least. And I just really bonded with her in a way I hadn't bonded with anyone in a very, very long time. It's like she was the first one, the first time I was really and truly back, and for that reason she'd always have a very special place in my heart.

But when I had to leave Donna, that turned out to be even harder, which made absolutely no sense, and so of course I was kind of living in denial for quite some time. I'm fine, I'm always fine, I'll be fine.

But I couldn't help feeling so angry at the world that Donna's story had to end. Not that she was dead, of course, no, she was still alive somewhere, but I didn't trust myself to ever go back and look in on her and see how she was getting on. And again, it was strange that I didn't think the same thing about Rose. Even though it was the same thing; she wasn't dead, but I could never see her again. I think the difference was that I knew she'd be happy, and I knew she'd continue doing the great things I'd seen from her. And she did, as I found out when we were finally reunited, and then we got a proper goodbye, and I left her with a version of myself, just to complete any void in her life. So, with her, even though I miss her every day, I can move on from her. Our chapter has closed.

But Donna's…it ended so abruptly, so unfairly. This chapter wasn't over. It was a cliffhanger, it was the middle of a sentence, it was as if the author's hand had suddenly been chopped off.

And I just _missed_ her, I missed her brash and lively presence, and I missed the way she would think so little of herself, and then she would do something magnificent and she would just look so proud of herself. That completely made my world every time she did it.

The more I thought about that, the more pain it started to cause me, and I knew I had to do something about it. I'd had no closure with her, not really, and I needed closure. Really, she was the lucky one. She didn't have to remember all that had been, nor think of what mind have been. She was blissfully ignorant.

Or, perhaps, she wasn't blissful. I had thrown her back into a life she hated. Maybe some part of her resented me for that.

Regardless, I couldn't go on like this, and I could feel an idea forming in my head that I definitely knew I should banish, but no part of me wanted to.

I wrestled with it, with my terrible idea, for a very long time, standing in my TARDIS, leaning on the console and wishing desperately that I had somebody to talk me out of this.

But I had no one, obviously. Because I don't need companions, and because my last one was so cruelly ripped away from me.

So set the coordinates, and off I raced. When I landed, I knew that this was the tricky part.

I had to be careful not to let her see both us of together.

I'd picked a prime landing spot, I knew that, but now I had to be very careful. I cautiously opened the TARDIS door, and peeked my head out.

And there we were, Donna and the Doctor, skipping merrily down an old Viking beach. Donna had begged to see Vikings, for reasons I couldn't explain. I remembered that, but I didn't really remember the day. Well, seeing what I was about to do, I suddenly understood why.

I picked up my sonic screwdriver, and sent a message to its twin. I hoped it would work. Apparently it did, because the other Doctor looked at it in alarm, and then in my direction. I was hidden behind a shrub, however, which I was peeking through to see what he did.

"Donna, will you wait here a moment?" he asked.

"Why?" she demanded, and I smiled fondly. Oh, my classic Donna Noble.

"It's just for a second, but there is something I have to investigate," he said.

"You've said that before," she huffed. "It always turns into something bigger."

"Donna, all I see over there is a perfectly ordinary rat, and I want to smell it."

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "But I give you two minutes before I come running after you."

He grinned at her, and I grinned from behind my bush. I immediately straightened up though and tried to look very serious as the other me came into view.

"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded. "You can't be here, and you certainly can't be talking to me! Or being seen by me!"

"Well, you haven't disapperared yet, and neither have I, so I think we're okay."

"But why are you here?"

Now came another tricky bit that I hadn't quite thought through. "Um, well, I wanted to spend a day with her."

"Why?" Concern instantly was written across his face. "What happened to your Donna?"

"She's fine," I hastily reassured him. "But, you know, all companions leave us eventually, and I'm currently going through withdrawals with this one. I just want one more day with her."

"But we've never done this before," he said. "With other companions, I mean. We've always just had to bear the loss."

"I know, and I promise I will, I just…I just miss her."

The very helpful thing about this entire scheme was that this was me I was talking about, and talking to. I knew that he would be on my side and share my line or reasoning, especially if he was on the same regeneration as me. And I knew what he'd be thinking in this exact moment, and it was that when his turn came to lose Donna, he'd miss her and want just one more day with her, too.

"Fine," he said. "But you'd better be careful. And we can't do this again, do you hear me?"

"Of course I hear me," I smirked, not being able to resist.

A smile poked about his lips, too. "So, I guess I'll just wait here for you to come back with her, then?"

"I promise, it won't even be five minutes for you," I said. "And I won't have her longer than I day. I know that I couldn't suffer any longer than that."

He nodded sympathetically, and watched me walk around the bush, bumping into Donna, who had come looking for me.

"Did you have a pleasant time sniffing your rat?" she asked sarcastically. "Honestly, sometimes it's like your brain has no filter, and just lets your body do anything on a whim."

"You've got no idea," I laughed.

That day with her was amazing. I said I wanted to try to break the number of famous people I'd met in a day, so I asked her which celebrities she'd like to meet, just briefly, it's not as if we could go around having adventures with them all. It was a marvelous day, and hearing her voice and her laugh and her biting remarks was like balm to my soul.

But I kept my word, and brought her back to the Viking beach after one day had passed. She was asleep, so it was easy to switch places with her Doctor.

"How was it?" he asked me, as he boarded the TARDIS.

"It was fantastic," I smiled. "Absolutely fantastic. Treasure the time you've got with her. You're going to miss her more than you've missed anybody before."

And with that encouraging remark, I went back to my own TARDIS, to once more travel the stars alone.


	27. 28 My Neighbor Totoro

**A/N: Yeaaah, I probably should have written this immediately after I saw the movie. Now it's been like three months, and I've kind of forgotten how the characters talked and stuff. I hope I did at least a little bit okay though, because I really did love My Neighbor Totoro.**

 **Ch. 28—The Huge Tree in the Tsukamori Forest**

Satsuki was helping Granny in the garden one day when they saw Mei running up the path as fast as her little feet would carry her. They couldn't carry her as fast as her spirit wanted to, apparantly, because they saw her trip and fall twice, so who knows how many times she'd fallen before that.

But neither fall deterred her from her errand, and she determinedly stood up and began racing again towards her sister. She eventually barreled into her and threw her tiny arms around Satsuki's legs.

"What is it, Mei?" Satsuki asked, trying to pry her arms off so she could bend down to look at her sister. It took a few seconds, and much difficulty, but she eventually succeeded, in stooping to Mei's eye level. "Mei? What's wrong, why are you crying?"

"Because!"

"Because why?"

"Because he's leaving!"

Satsuki sighed. "Mei, I'm not a mind reader. Who's leaving?"

"Totoro!"

Now Mei had Satsuki's full attention, if she didn't have it before. "Wait, what? What do you mean Totoro's leaving? He always leaves, but he always comes back. When you least expect it. You should know that by now, Mei."

"No!" Mei shook her head fiercely, tears continuing to flow unchecked down her cheeks. "He's leaving the forest! Forever!"

Satsuki had been sort of afraid that's what Mei would say. It was difficult to understand her, sometimes, because she only spoke a few words at a time and expected other people to know what she was talking about. Satsuki had plenty of experience and practice at it, more than anyone else, but sometimes she doubted whether Mei actually knew what she was talking about.

Especially since Totoro didn't even speak. "How do you know that?" she asked skeptically. "Did he tell you that?"

To Satsuki's surprise, Mei bobbed her head up and down several times.

"Really?" Satsuki pressed. "How did he do that, Mei? He can't even talk!"

"Yes he can," she insisted. "He told me his name when I first met him."

"Okay, well…I think that was just the noise that his breed of animal makes. Did he use actually words this time? Did he specifically tell you he was leaving the forest forever?"

She just kept nodding stubbornly, and Satsuki turned to Granny helplessly. "Granny, please tell her that Totoro can't talk."

"How should I know what Totoro can do?" she asked. "I've never seen him. And I don't think your sister would make up something that is clearly upsetting her so much.

"But Granny, he's an animal! And I've met him several times, and he's never said anything! He just…sort of…roars on occasion. And sometimes it does sound like he's saying 'Totoro,' so I guess that's where Mei got it from. But he can't speak, he isn't able to talk like humans can!"

"Well, he is a spirit of the forest," Granny pointed out. "Who knows all the different things a spirit can do? If he's never wanted to talk before, then he would not have, not until he actually had something to say. Or maybe you're right, and he doesn't talk the way you and I do. But there are other forms of communicating, you know."

"Like what?"

"Don't ask me. Ask your sister."

Satsuki turned to Mei, who was still standing there furiously wiping her eyes. "Mei…"

"He _did_ tell me! He _did_ tell me he was leaving! If you won't believe me, then…then…"

"I do believe you, Mei," Satsuki said sincerely, as she suddenly realized she did. She hadn't believed her little sister about Totoro the first time he'd been mentioned, either, but Mei had been correct about that. And Mei was a year older now. "But how did he tell you? Did he...I mean did he speak the way you and I are speaking right now?"

That made her pause for a moment. "I don't know," she finally said.

"You don't know?"

"All I know is that he told me he's leaving," Mei said. Tears began brimming up in her eyes again. "I don't want him to go, Satsuki! I'll miss him too much!"

Now that Satsuki was choosing to believe her, it suddenly struck her what she was saying. Totoro was leaving? But Totoro couldn't leave! Totoro kept life interesting, Totoro was always there when they were in trouble, Totoro was one of their best friends!

"Where did you see him, Mei?" Satsuki asked earnestly. "Maybe he's still there. Maybe he'll talk to me, too."

Mei pointed in the direction of the forest, naturally, and Satsuki turned to Granny. "May I—" she started, but Granny was already waving her off.

"Yes, yes, of course child, go and see Totoro!" she urged.

Satsuki smiled her thanks, and took off running after Mei. Mei led her up to the big tree, and there was Totoro, still holding the big umbrella over his head, and with the little Totoros clinging to his stomach. He grinned widely when he saw them.

"Totoro," Satsuki breathed. "Is it—is it true? Are you leaving the forest?"

He continued to grin, and then Mei turned to her. "See? I told you he can talk!"

"But he isn't saying anything," Satsuki said, blinking in confusion. "Did you hear him say something, Mei?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Yes, and he says it's nice to see you again."

Satsuki looked at him in wonder. "Why can't I hear him?"

Mei turned to Totoro expectantly, and then reported, "He says you will, once he chooses to talk to you. But it's easier to talk to just one person at a time."

Satsuki wondered if Mei realized that she was speaking more clearly, and using longer sentences. "Can you hear him in your head, Mei?"

She nodded. "Yes, I guess so."

"What else is he saying?"

Mei stared at him, then blinked and took a few steps back. "He…he wants us to go with him!"

"What?"

"He says his time has come to leave the forest and seek out a different one, but he would very much like to take us with him, if we want to go."

Satsuki stared at the big furry-eared giant. "Really?" she breathed.

His response was to hold out a paw to her. Satsuki stared at it for a long while, and then looked back up at him. "Could you give us some time to think about it?" she asked. "If we come back here tomorrow, will you be here?"

"He says yes," Mei said after a moment.

That night, neither girl got any sleep. They were both discussing the possibility of going away with Totoro. It would be incredible, they knew that. It would always be an incredibly happy life, with the best friend in the world, and they would always be safe as long as he was near.

But in the end, they knew they would miss their parents too much if that happened. Mei, in particular, couldn't bear the thought of never seeing her mother again.

They reported this to Totoro the next day, and Mei told Satsuki that he said he understood.

Then Satsuki heard a voice in her head that was so deep and so soft that she almost wasn't sure if she'd actually heard it. "Goodbye, Satsuki," it said, and then Totoro flew up into the air and out of sight.

Mei started crying, and Satsuki was surprised to find tears on her own face, as well.

The next year, they decided to visit the tree again, just for old times' sake. They were very surprised when Totoro was there, waiting for them, and wanting to take them on a flight around the town.

He told them that he was only there for a day, and when he left, the girls were saddened anew. But the following year they returned, hopefully, and found him waiting there again.

And for as long as they lived in that reportedly haunted house, Totoro visited them on that day every single year.

Satsuki

Mei


	28. 29 Descendants

**A/N: Not gonna lie, the first Descendants movie was phenomenally better than the second one. But the relationships between Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos are what sold me on the first one, and as they were still there for the second one, I still loved it. Here's hoping third one has more bonding between the four of them.**

 **Ch. 29—Carlos' First Date**

Carlos paced outside Evie's bedroom door for a good ten minutes without walking in. It was partially opened, and Evie could see him pacing, not that he knew that of course. She watched him in fascination, until she finally said, "Carlos, if you pace in here instead, then you won't be in the way of traffic.

The pacing stopped, and Carlos sheepishly pushed the door open the rest of the way. "You saw that?"

"Yeah," Evie said, turning to the mirror and applying her lipstick. "Did you need something?"

"I mean…" he paused. "No, not really."

"So you just paced outside my door for ten minutes because you were bored?"

Carlos scratched the back of his head. "Evie," he said. "You're a girl, right?"

If it were anyone else, Evie would have showed them how much of a girl she was, but since it was Carlos, she simply smacked her lips and put the lipstick cap back on. "Last time I checked," she said calmly.

"Well, I have a…kind of girl problem."

"Ooh." Evie spun around so that she was sitting on the edge of her bed, and crossed her legs, placing her hands on top of one knee. "Do tell."

Carlos scratched his head again. "It's about Jane," he said slowly.

Evie gasped. "What is it? Is she cheating on you? Is she over you? Are her eyes wandering elsewhere?" Evie placed her hand on Carlos' shoulder. "Do you need Mal and I to whip up another love spell?"

"No, no it's nothing like that!" Carlos said, grinning. "No, Jane's been a great girlfriend, and she's always doing nice things for me, but then Audrey bumped into me in the hall this morning and said I was a sorry excuse for a boyfriend because I never do anything nice for her."

Evie scoffed. "Audrey wouldn't know 'sorry excuse for a boyfriend' if she was dating one," she said crisply. "And she is, again, right now. You're a very nice boyfriend, Carlos, and Jane doesn't seem to see anything lacking. Who cares what Audrey thinks?"

"Still," Carlos said. "It got me thinking, and I want to do something nice for her, but all the ideas I came up with were stupid."

"Oh, I'm sure they weren't all stupid. How many ideas did you have?"

Carlos blushed. "One?"

Evie nodded slowly. "You did the right thing," she confirmed.

"So you'll help me?" Carlos asked eagerly.

"Carlos, we've been friends for how long?"

Carlos hung his head. "Since we were in diapers."

"I'd help you with anything," Evie said. "Literally. Anything. Well, as long as I always look great doing it. Which means that it's still a very long list. The point is, you didn't need to be so scared to come ask me, because you know Mal and Jay and I would do anything for you. So. Let's start with your one idea. How bad was it?"

"I mean it just kind of involved doing something extra romantic for a date, but I banished that idea because it seemed so cliché."

"Clichés can definitely hold you back," Evie agreed. "But the thing you have to remember is that whatever kind of date you go on, only you will ever go on it, and there will be another date that's ever the same. So a cliché date can be a good thing. Especially for Jane, because I imagine she's never had a boyfriend before, so anything you do with her would be new and exciting!"

"I guess."

"What kind of date were you thinking?"

"I mean a picnic was the first thing that came to mind, but, again. Cliché."

"But romantic," Evie insisted. "I happen to know where Ben took Mal on their first date."

"And their second date, and all that dates after that," Carlos said. "That date spot is taken!"

"Well, you don't have to go there," Evie said. "You can go near it, though. It's all pretty. The next thing is to get you spruced up."

"Woah, the next thing?" Carlos asked. "I haven't even invited her yet!"

"Well, go invite her then, and come back!"

Carlos had been dreading asking Evie for this very reason. Even though he trusted her to know what she was doing, and obviously she knew what girls liked, he also knew she would have an exact vision for how everything should go, and Carlos was just terrified that he'd mess it all up. He let Evie make all the arrangements anyway, however, and he let her give him the first makeover he'd ever had, before sending him out the door with a boquet of flowers and a threat of what would happen to him if he didn't come tell her how it went afterwards.

Late that night, she and Mal heard a timid tap on their door.

"Who could that be?" Mal asked, but Evie already knew.

"It's Carlos. Mal, could you be a dear and sort of…find an excuse to leave for the next half hour? I promise to tell you about it afterwards."

Mal gave her signature "wow" smile. "Okay?" she said, but slipped off the bed and answered the door. "Oh, hey Carlos, I was just leaving," she said, making no attempts to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. But she did leave, and Carlos and Evie were alone.

"Well?" Evie asked.

Carlos gave a sigh and flopped backwards onto Mal's bed. "Oh my gosh, it was incredible. You were so, so right; this is her first time doing any of this, and she was completely enchanted. Not literally, of course, at least I hope not. But she went on and on about how I was the best boyfriend ever, and, well…" he sat up and smiled. "That's thanks to you, Evie."

She gave a squeal and hugged him. "I'm so happy for you," she said. "But, it really wasn't because of me, you know. I just embellished an idea you already had. Clearly you know what you're doing too."

He smiled, and walked towards the door. "Well, that may be so, but still, I'm coming to you so you can make me look nice before all my dates!"

She laughed. "Is that a promise?"

He stopped at the door. "I'm serious, Evie," he said. "Thank you."

"Hey." She shrugged. "That's just how VKs roll, Carlos. That's just how we roll."


	29. 30 Kevin (Probably) Saves the World

**A/N: I could go on and on and** _ **on**_ **about why Kevin (Probably) Saves the World is incredible, but you shouldn't just take my word for it, you should go and watch it yourselves and see why. Because I'm willing to bet about 100% of you reading this has never heard of it, considering it got cancelled I think before it had even finished its first season. It was inspiring while it lasted, though.**

 **Ch. 30—Righteous Forces**

Reese plopped down beside Kevin on the couch one, and looked at him expectantly.

Kevin only glanced briefly up from his phone. "Hey."

"Hey," she replied.

Kevin looked back down, but when didn't say anything more, he looked up, into her expectant eyes. "Did you…need something?"

"Okay, I want in," she said.

"I'm sorry?"

"You know how you do that whole helping people thing?" she asked.

"Yyyes?"

"Well, I want in." A smile joined her expectant look.

Kevin put his phone down. "You want—really?"

She nodded, still smiling.

"Reese, you don't…that's not…I mean what I do isn't something you can just choose. You have to be chosen."

She scoffed. "You have to get chosen to be nice to people? You mean I'm not allowed to do it unless someone gives me permission?"

"No, obviously that's not what I meant, what I meant is that you have to be get chosen to do what I do."

"Ooh." She nodded in mock understanding. "And what you do is different because…?"

"Okay, you win, I can't explain why it's different," Kevin blurted out. "But you don't even know why I do it."

"I don't have to. I tried figuring that out for a while, which you already know. I thought you were doing something shady or you were just insane. Both were kinda scary, but also would have been really cool if they were true. But now I can see…that you just do it because it makes people happy. And when they're happy, you're happy."

Kevin blinked and stared at her. "And you—you want that?"

"Of course I want that!" Reese said. "I think more people should want it. There's so much misery in the world, and I hate it, obviously, everybody hates it. But no one really does anything about it when they see it, because they think they can't. Or they think they'll look shady or insane, or stupid, if they try. But you don't care about any of those things. You do it just to be nice. And I think that's really, really cool, and so I want in."

Kevin looked at his niece, and thought about how different she was now compared to when he'd first arrived. She was definitely happier now. And more outgoing. And more polite. He didn't really know why, and he really doubted it was because of him, but maybe seeing the happiness of the people he helped was its own inspiration. And he was different too, because of this. That was probably a good thing, right? He knew he was definitely happier. And people didn't hate him as much anymore. And he had friends now that he wouldn't have had otherwise.

But he still seemed hesitant. "I mean, you're kind of in already, aren't you? I can see you trying to be a better kid. Getting more involved at school, and getting along with your mom, and being nicer to me."

"Ke _vin_ ," she laughed, in exasperation. "You know what I mean. I want to actually get my hands dirty and do all the stupid insane stuff that you do."

"Well," Kevin said. "What would your mom think?"

Reese smiled mischievsouly. "I bet we could get her to join us."

Kevin raised his eyebrows. "You think?"

"Yeah! I mean why wouldn't she? She loves solving problems, she likes hanging out with us. We could be like the Three Musketeers or something!"

A grin started to spread across Kevin's face. Maybe finding the Rigteous Souls wasn't his only mission. Maybe this, getting other people to be helpful too, was also part of it. Because he knew it wouldn't just stay at Reese and Amy. No, it would extend to Tyler, and Kristin, and hopefully all sorts of others. And how could he say no to that?

"You're right, Reese," he said. "It's just wrong that I haven't asked you to join me before. Come on, let's go knock your mom dead with our joint puppy dog eyes!"

She laughed as she gave his side a squeeze. "You're so weird," she said. "But that's okay. I still think you're pretty great."

He dropped a kiss on the top of her forehead. "Same to you, weirdo," he said. "I think you're pretty great, too."

 **A/N: And that's a wrap! To anybody who has read this or will read this in the future: thank you. I had fun. For the most part. Don't know if I'll be doing this next year, though I do have ideas for an all Disney one-shot game, or an all musical one…**

 **We'll see how that goes. But for now, I'm about to go and watch all the YouTube that I couldn't watch during November. Thanks again for reading! Comments and follows and all the things are much appreciated.**


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